This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at |http : //books . google . com/
-.:-;- ^-v
'!V
> «
Ar -^^
J .-.nJ
'Digitized by
Google
WHY
ssoci^ion
Fourth
Annual
Report
19G6
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google j
Digitized by
Google
(Frontispiece.)
Mr. William Liitlk, Wkstmount Heighth, Montkeal,
honoiiary pre8ihknt of the canadian f0re8try assck'ration.
Digitized by
Google
REPOKT
OP THE
FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING
OP THE
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
HELD AT
OTTA.AV^, M^RCH 5 and 6, 1903
OTTAWA
GOVERNMENT P R I.N T I N G B U,R E A U
1903
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.
OF-FICJERS.
PATRON :
HIS EXCELLENCY THE (GOVERNOR (iENERAL.
HONORARY PRESIDENT :
William Little, Westmount, Montreal.
PRESIDENT:
Hiram Robinson, Ottawa, Ont.
VICE-PRESIDENT:
Aubrey White, Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands, Toronto, Ont.
PROVINCIAL VICE-PRESIDENTS :
Ontario,— 3, B. MoWilliams, Peterborough.
^u«6ec.— Hon. S. N. Parent, Quebec.
Neic Brunswick. — His Honour J. B. Snowball, Lieutenant-Governor, Chatham.
Nova Scotia.-r-A, H. MacKay, LL.D., Supt. of Education, Halifax.
Prince Edward /«/rtnd.— Rev. A. E. Burke, Alberton.
Afanitota. —Major Stewart Mulvey, Winnipeg.
A»tiniboia.—J . S. Dennis, Calgary.
Saskatchewan.— V. G. Laurie, Battleford.
.4/6€rfa.— William Pearce, Calgary.
' Athaha»ka.—'F. D. Wilson, Fort Vermilion.
British Columbia.— H. Bostock, Monte Creek.
Yukon.— The Commissioner, Dawson.
Kee}€atin.—The Lieut. -Governor of Manitoba.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS :
Wni. Saunders, LL.D., Ottawa, Ont. J. R. Booth, Ottawa, Ont.
Prof. John Maooun, Ottawa, Ont. C. Jackson Booth, Ottawa, Ont
Thos. Southworth, Toronto, Ont. John Bertram, Toronto, Ont.
E. G. Joly de Lotbini^re, Quebec, P.Q.
SECRETARY:
E. Stewart, Ottawa, Ont.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY AND TREASURER.
R. H. Campbell, Ottawa, Ont.
U
Digitized by
Google
NOTICES.
The objects of the Canadian Forestry Association are : —
The preservation of the forests for their influence on climate, fertility and water
supply ; the exploration of the public domain and the reservation for timber production
of lands unsuited for agriculture; the promotion of judicious. methods in dealing with
forests and woodlands ; re-afforestation where advisable ; tree planting on the* plains
and on streets and highways ; the collection and dissemination of infonnation bearing
on the forestry problem in general.
The fifth annual meeting will be held in Toronto, on Thursday and Friday, March
10 and 11, 1904.
This association is engaged in a w(jrk of national importance in which every citizen
of the Dominion has a direct interest. If you are not a member of the association your
membership is earnestly solicited.
The annual dues are ?1. The life membership fee is §10.
Applications for membership should be addressed to the treasurer,
R. H. Campbell,
Department of Interior, Ottawa, Ont.
Digitized by
Google
FOUirrH ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.
The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Forestry Association was held
at Ottawa, in the City Council Chamber, on Thursday and Friday, the 5th and 6th
of March, 1903. The meeting was called to order at 10.30 a.m., Thursday, by the
President, Mr. William Little, Westmount Heights, Montreal.
Those present were : W. C. Caldwell, M.P.P., Lanark, Ont. ; Colin Rankin, Mat-
tawa ; J. R. Booth, Ottawa; Professor E. C. Jeffrey, Harvard, Mass.; Wm. Little,
Westmuunt ; Thos. Southworth, Director of Forestry, Toronto ; Aubrey White, Deputy
Commissioner of Crown Lands, Toronto ; J. H. Faull, Toronto ; Geo. Johnson, Dominion
Statistician, Ottawa; A. F. Mclntyre, Ottawa; T. S. Young, * Canada Lumberman,'
Toronto; C, Jackson Booth, Ottawa; E. J. Darby, Crown Timber Agent, Ottawa ;
Hiram Robinson, Ottawa ; Dr. A. Harold Unwin, Ottawa ; R. T. Pinkerton, West-
mount, Que. ; F. W. Cowie, Ottawa ; N. E. Cormier, Aylmer, Que. ; N. McCuaig,
Biyson, Que. ; Arch. Blue, Ottawa ; Arch. M. Campbell, Ottawa ; Henry Robertson,
Collingwood ; D. B. Dowling, Ottawa ; F. King, Ottawa ; A. Knechtel, Albany, N.Y. ;
Professor John Macoun, Ottawa ; Dr. Wm. Saunders, Ottawa ; Norman M. Ross,
Ottawa ; E. G. Joly de Lotbiniere, Que. ; F. C. Gendron, Mayor of Hull ; J. R. Reid,
President of the Ottawa Board of Trade ; J. C. Browne ; E. Stewart, Superintendent of
Forestry, Ottawa ; Geo. Simpson, Ottawa ; Hon. J. K. Ward, Westmount ; Robert
Gorman, Ottawa ; Sir Sandford Fleming, Ottawa ; R. H. Campbell, Ottawa ; D. A.
Campbell, Ottawa; Sir James Grant, K.C.M.G., Ottawa; R. C. Clute, K.C. ; J. B.
Eraser, Ottawa ; Col. D. Macrae, Guelph, Ont. ; A. P. Knight, Kingston, Ont. ; J.
B. Mc Williams, Peterborough, Ont. ; Professor W. L Goodwin, Kingston, Ont. ; F. T.
Shutt, Ottawa ; Otto J. Klotz, Ottawa ; Fred'k. Booth, Ottawa ; Mr. Halkett, Ottawa ;
Lieut.-Col. White, Ottawa ; Wm. Ide, Ottawa ; R. H. Cowley, Ottawa ; Mr. Gillies ;
J. Keele, Ottawa ; Dr. J. T. Finnic, Montreal ; Geo. Y. Chown, Kingston.
The pcesident, Mr. William Little, of Westmount Heights, Montreal, upon taking
the chair, said : Before proceeding with the regular order of business I have to ask
the indulgence of the meeting to l>e allowed to correct an error near the top of page 32
of the published report of our third annual meeting, where it appears that I uncon-
sciously used the word * dues ' instead of * ground rents * when reverting to the annual
area charge imposed on licenses issued to cut timber from Crown lands some fifty years
ago. The government then exacted a rental of fifty cents per square mile as ground
Digitized by
Google
C CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
rent for the first and subsequent year, at which rate it remained so long as the limit
was worked on, but doubled this ground rent annually thereafter provided no timber
was cut upon the limit, until it reached eight dollars per square mile within five years.
This excessive rate, forcing the limit holder either to cut timber on all his limits,
whether advantageous to do so or not, or suflTer this heavy penalty, often proved a hard-
ship to the lumberman in compelling him to carry on operations in a number of places,
and also a loss to both him and the government from greatly increasing the risk of fire.
The president then delivered his address, which was slightly altered on revision :
It is my pleasant duty to heartily thank the members of the Canadian Forestry Asso-
ciation for the great honour conferred upon me, by electing me during my absence to
the high office of president of this association, in succession to His Honour, Sir Henri
Joly de Lotbiniere, now honorary president. I need hardly assure you that I
appreciate this mark of your confidence most highly, and I much regret that circum-
stances have prevented me from rendering greater service to the cause we all have so
much at heart. It must now be gratifying for you to know that forestry and tlie timber
question are beginning to receive from the public some slight recognition of their im-
portance, and let us trust that past indifference may be succeeded by immediate and
serious concern.
It may look like presumption in me to say so, for possibly I might not be asked to
again accept the high office of president of the Canadian Forestry Association, but since
a single term should be sufficient honour for any one, and I am pleased to know that
there are many here who could fill the place with credit, I must ask my friends to
choose some one else to occupy the chair for the succeeding term. There are, as you
are aware, no emoluments connected with the cause of forestry at present, so that the
honours at least should be distributed.
I must say that it was with more than ordinary pleasure I received word that
our indefatigable secretary had been so fortunate as to secure Professor E. C. Jeffrey,
now of Harvard University, for a lecture here this evening on the important
subject of * Forest Trees and their Uses,* and that His Excellency the Governor
General would graciously honour us with his presence, and the Honourable Mr. Sifton,
Minister of the Interior, would preside at the lecture, for from this we may infer that
the forestry question, alas ! far too long neglected by the government and people of
Canada was at'' last being recognized as worthy of consideration. Doubtless many may
think it strange that we should have to send to Boston for some one to tell us about
forest trees and their uses, but I am pleased to be apprised of the fact by Dr. Saun-
ders][that the distinguished lecturer is one of ourselves, a true born Canadian, late of
Toronto University. And those who have taken much interest in the forestry question
willjjl know, pardon me for saying that to the renowned seat of learning with which
Professor Jeffrey is now associated this cause is very greatly indebted ; for*t is due to
the labours of an eminent professor of Harvard University, Mr. Charles S. Sargent,
Arnold professor of arboriculture, that the American people obtained the first authentic
information of the condition of the United States forests, since it was under his able
supervision the great work of investigation and reporting on the nature and condition
of the forests of the United States for the census of 1880 was compiled ; and permit me
to say I believe it would have been worth hundreds of millons of dollars to the Dominion
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 7
of Canada if our goverament had followed the example of the United States, and ascer-
tained the condition of our forests, when we would doubtless have discovered that we
did not possess such a surplus amount of valuable timber that we could afford to sacri-
fice it in the reckless manner we have been doing for so many years.
In connection with this valuable report of Professor Sargent it is pleasing to note
the fact that in his letter of transmittal accompanying his report to the government he
mentions, in terms of high commendation, the assistance rendered him by several Cana-
<lian gentlemen, citizens of Ottawa, when he says : * It is my pleasant duty to call your
attention to the fact that this investigation has been greatly aided from the first by the
experience and knowledge of Messrs. G. M. Dawson, John Macoun and Robert Bell,
members of the Geological Survey of Canada. The information in regard to the distri-
bution northward of the trees of the eastern United States is entirely derived from the
latter's paper upon the Canadian forests published in the report of the Geological Survey
of Canada for the year 1879-1880.' The gentlemen to whom he refers being, of course,
the late Dr. Dawson, Professor John Macoun, now assistant director, and Dr. Robert
Bell, Director of the Geological Sui'vey of Canada.
This able and comprehensive report of Professor Sargent demonstrated to the
world the seriously significant fact that the original great forests of the north Atlantic
and lake states of the American Union, our immediate neighbours, were not inexhausti-
ble as many ignorantly supposed them to be, but were even then showing signs of the
early depletion of their most valuable timber trees — that the magnificent oaks, ashes,
elms, walnuts, butternuts, chestnuts, cherries, hickories, beeches and maples, whitewood,
bass wood and button wood with other hardwood timber crees were largely cut away ;
while of the conifers, the incomparable white pine, the pride of the North American
forests, that originally abundantly stocked the vast area of country comprising the
whole of New England, together with New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin,
and Minnesota, as also the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and
Ontario, and which had hitherto contributed to the lumber industry of North America
fully two-thirds of its whole stock of sawn lumber, had then been so nearly harvested,
that the white pine forests of the United States showed but a few scattered remnants
of their once great wealth of timber which were chiefly to be found in the northern parts
of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and which even self-interest seemed unable to
save from wanton destruction ; while in New York, Pennsylvania and the New England
States the spruce and hemlock were fa«t following the pine in a rapid course of depletion,
that before many years the industries of the northern states would have to depend for
timber supplies largely on the timber of the south and the Pacific, as outside of the great
areas already cut over the vast interior of the country was either prairie and bare of
timber or very sparsely stocked with valuable timber trees.
The accuracy of his prognostications are now apparent when it is known that their
far-famed forests of white pine timber are about gone, for the United States census report
for 1 900 states, respecting the white pine : * There is probably fifty billion feet of white
pine standing in the country. The total amount reported as owned by lumbermen is
16,352 million feet, and the cut in the census years approximately 7,500 million feet,
showing that the holdings of lumber companies so far as reported are sufficient to supply
the cut for two or three years only.'
Digitized by
Google
8 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TIOX
Three years have gone by, and estimating the cut of white pine timber since 1900
at even five billion feet annually, would leave standing in the United States forests
barely thirty-five billion feet of white pine timber, an amount just equalling the sawn
lumber manufactured from all kinds of timber during the census year 1900, which was
35,084 million feet (including, of course, the 7,500 million feet of white pine), as com-
pared with 12,755 million feet cut in 1870, 18,091 mUlions in 1880, and 27,041 millions
in 1890. The cut of 1900 being, as it appears, nearly three times as much as that of
1870 ; while the total value of all forest products increased from sixty million dollars in
1850 to ninety-six millions in 1860, 210 millions in 1870, 233 millions in 1880, 437
millions in 1890, and 566 millions in 1900.
The United States census returns for 1900 also show, as was predicted by Professor
Sargent, that the northern states have now been forced to draw heavily upon the forests
of the south and the Pacific for lumber and other forest products, for we find that four-
teen southern and three Pacific states, which in 1880 supplied forest products to the
value of but fifty-one million dollars (a sum less than that of the single state of Michigan,
which exceeded fifty-two million dollars in 1880, and eighty-three million dollars in 1890),
exceeded this amount in 1900 by just 200 million dollars, their total value being 251
millioiLS, or five times as much as in 1880. The increase in some states being very great,
advancing in Arkansas in the south from $1,793,848 to $23,958,983, and in Washington
in the west from $1,734,742 to $30,286,280. The increase in the amount of lumber
sawn being from 3,686 millions to 14,743 millions in the south, and from 642 millions
to 3,900 millions in the Pacific states, making the total amount of lumber sawn in the
south and the Pacific 18,643 millions in 1900, as compared with 4,328 millions in 1880 ;
showing that the amount of lumber sawn in the south and west for the census year 1 900
was in excess of the entire cut of all kinds of lumber manufactured in the United States
in 1880, and considerably more than one-half of the total amount of lumber sawn in the
United States in 1900.
The cut of southern yellow pine timber (including about 1,000 million feet sawn in
the west) reached a total of 10,603 million feet, as compared with 7,483 million feet of
white pine, 3,420 millions hemlock (1,860 millions in the north-eastern states, and 1,560
millions in the west), and 1,448 million feet of spruce. The southern pines and Pacific
fir almost exactly equalling the cut of white pine, hemlock and spruce, the former being
12,339 millions and the latter 12,351 million feet ; so that it is but reasonable to assume
that the cut of southern pine to-day largely exceeds the whole cut of white pine, hemlock
and spruce, and by the time another census year comes around the lordly white pine,
that heretofore dominated all other timber trees combined in its production of lumber,
will have disappeared from the census enumeration as an important factor in lumber
production.
This is an object lesson that should be seriously considered by us, for I greatly fear
a critical examination of our Canadian forest lands would show that we too have been
running a close race with our neighbours in the rate of forest, and especially white pine,
destruction.
I may i-emark that it was a recognition of the unsatisfactory condition of the forests
of the United States, as shown in Professor Sargent's report, that prompted the Forestry
Association of the province of Quebec, at its first ni(»eting, which was held in Montreal,
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FOREST HY ASSOCIA TION 9
Movember 8, 1883, under the presidency of Sir Henri Joly de Lobini^re, to memorialize
the Dominion Government praying that a parliamentary inquiry might be made into
the condition of the forests of the country, especially those of white pine, and it is safe
to say that a correct knowledge of their condition would have saved the country hundreds
of millions of dollars worth of valuable timber, since sacrificed through ignorance and
indifference, by the too reckless cutting by the axe, and loss through destruction by fire.
And since this is directly in line with the aims of this Association, I now take the liberty
of reading this memorial and the reply thereto.
To His Excellency
The Marquis of Lansdowne,
Governor General of Canada.
May it please Your Excellency —
The undersigned has the honour to represent to Your Excellency that at a meet-
ing of the Forestry Association of the Province of Quebec, held at Forestry' Chambers,
Montreal, on the 8th ultimo, the following resolution was passed : —
* That a committee be appointed to memorialize His Excellency the Governor Gen-
eral on the 'subject of the forests of the country, with the view of having a Parliamentary
inquiry made into their condition, especially with reference ta the white pine, respecting
which it is said that there is now a growing scarcity of the merchantable or first quality
pine,a description of wood on which the prosperity of the country has greatly depended.'
That the chairman be requested to name the committee who shall be authorized to
make what representations, inquiries or suggestions may to them seem requisite .
That the chairman named the following gentlemen on the conmiittee : Messrs.
William Little, L. H. Massue, M.P., J. K. Ward, J. X. Perrault and G. L. Marler.
That the undersigned was made chairman and requested to submit to Your Excel-
lency the above recited resolution for your favourable consideration .
That in submitting this resolution your memorialists would respectfully intimate
that though the question may appear to fall within the jurisdiction of the Provincial
Legislatures rather than of the Dominion Parliament, yet it will only be by means of a
general and uniform inquiry into the condition of all the forests of the Dominion as a
whole, that a correct appreciation can be made of the condition and prospects of the tim-
ber trade, one of the most important in the Dominion.
That as the question is one of general interest to the whole Dominion, it is humbly
submitted that it could be more satisfactorily dealt with by the Dominion Parliament
than by any Provincial Legislature, which could not be expected to enquire much
further than its own limits.
That the question is one of the most serious import for the future welfare of the
country and worthy of special investigation, in view of the statements made by observ-
ing men, that the forests are being sacrificed at an alarming rate, particularly the fine
forests of white pine, to which your memorialists were more especially asked to draw
Your Excellency's attention.
That the early exhaustion of supplies of this invaluable timber (which your memor-
ialists are advised may with confidence be predicted, unless better methods than now
prevail be' adopted for its conservation) or a material reduction thereof would be pro-
ductive of great loss to the country.
That your memorialists have tried to obtain for Your Excellency's information
some reliable statistics on the subject, but regret to have to say that with the exception
of the valuable reports of the Hon . H. G. Joly, of Quebec, as member of the Dominion
Board of Agriculture, compiled for the Department of Agriculture ; the map prepared
by Dr. Robert Bell of the Geological Survey, showing the geographical distribution of
the forest trees of Canada ; replies to questions in relation to the woods and forests of
Canada, submitted through the Right Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon ; Report on
Forestry and Agriculture by the Ontario Agricultural Commission, 1881; Reports of
Digitized by
Google
10 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
the Geological Survey ; Census Reports and Departmental Reports, published by Par-
liament — but little authentic information can be presented, and what little there is,
though valuable in itself, Your Excellency will no doubt perceive only shows cause for
a more thorough investigation of this most important question of timber supply.
That your memorialists cannot too urgently impress upon Your Excellency's atten-
tion the great importance of forest conservation, nor the disastrous effects which may
be anticipated from too limited areas of forest reserves.
The whole respectfully submitted,
(Signed) WILLIAM LITTLE,
Chairman of Committee of Forestry Association,
Province of Quebec.
Forestry Chambers, Montreal, Dec. 10, 1883.
[reply].
Ottawa, December 13, 1883.
Sir — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor General to acknowledge the
receipt of your conmiunication on behalf of the Committee of the Forestry Association
of the Province of Quebec, and of its inclosures, and to inform you that it has been
transferred to the Honourable the Privy Council for consideration.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) MELGUND,
William Little, Esq., Governor General's Secretary.
Chairman of Committee, For'y Assn. of Quebec,
Montreal.
With regard to this memorial, I have to say that I am yet ignorant of any serious
consideration having been given to it by the Government of the time, or of any rational
attempt having been made by any succeeding Government, to ascertain the true condi-
tion of our forests of white pine, which is the chief factor in our great Canadian timber
trade, though from what information I have on the subject I am forced to believe that,
if the existing indifference continues for a few years more, the inquiry, in so far as
regards our white pine forests, may be answered in as few words as the school boy's
essay on the snakes in Ireland, which said: * There are no snakes in Ireland,' for
there will be no white pine forests in Canada.
The minutes of the previous annual meeting were read by the Assistant Secretaiy
and adopted.
Mr. Stewart read the following telegram from His Honour Sir Henri Joly de
Lotbiniere as follows : —
* Best wishes for successful meeting, regret cannot attend. James Leamy sends
paper protection of forests against fire.'
Mr. Campbell — Mr. Chairman when this meeting was being arranged for, a short
time ago, I thought it advisable to write to the president of the Board of Trade of the
city of Ottawa asking that he and the members of the Board of Trade should take
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 11
some interest in this meeting. I have a reply from the secretary, Mr. Cecil Bethune,
which is as follows :
Dear Sir : — At a meeting of the council of this Board held last evening the follow-
ing resolution was passed : —
* That the council of the Board of Trade of the city of Ottawa, acknowledges
with thanks the letter of R. H. Campbell, Asst. Secy, of the Canadian Forestry As-
sociation accompanied by the last annual report and the by-laws of the Association, and
is pleased to know that the annual jconvention will assemble in Ottawa this week, and
expresses the hope that its several sessions may be eminently successful.'
The citizens of Ottawa generally should take a lively interest in this praiseworthy
Association, whose aim is to advocate the protection and the proper management of the
forests of the Dominion.'
I have a communication from the Revd. Father Burke, Prince Edward Island. We
have no representative here from the Island to-day, and in fact Revd. Father Burke is
the only member of the Association in Prince Edward Island. He has written me a
letter expressing his interest in the work, and asking that we should take some more
active steps to help them down in the eastern part of Canada. Father Burke is a
member of the Fruit Growers' Association there, and at the last meeting he induced
them to pass a resolution, a copy of which he has sent me. It is to this effect :
Moved by John Johnston, Esq., I^ong River, seconded by Richard Burke, Esq.,
Charlottetown,
Whereas the proper protection of our forests is a matter of vital importance to tht;
agricultural interests of the province, therefore
Resolved, That the Government be and is hereby requested to appoint without delay
a commission to look into and report on this important matter before it is too late, with
a view to the conservation of the forest growth on our waste land and the extension of
forestry generally. — Carried unanimously.
The resolution was carried unanimously. Father Burke is very anxious that we
should hold a meeting in Eastern Canada, so as to assist them in the work there.
I have another communication that is partly of a pleasant character, but has
another feature which shows some of the disabilities we have to labour under. It is
from Col. Warren of Vancouver, and reads in part as follows : —
I have to inform you that while fully aware of the good which can be accomplished
and has been already accomplished by the Canadian Forestry Association, I am so
satisfied that the inequality of treatment accorded to the British Columbia members as
compared to others, can be and should be amended. — I allude to the railway rates
to attend meetings, — that I shall discontinue any further subscription until equality is
awarded to all members alike.
Col. Warren requests that this letter be read before the Association. I explained
to Col. Warren in reply, that we did not control the railway companies. We got all
the privileges we could from them, but they would not extend the single fare privilege
beyond Fort William on account of traffic arrangements and other objections, although
we made every effort to have it extended. I suggested to Col. Warren that it would
hardly be a proper thing for the Association to refuse a privilege accorded, because we
Digitized by
Google
12 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
could not get all we wished to obtain, and I said that we would still try to get the
further privilege.
I received a telegram from Mr. J. C. Anderson, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of
British Columbia, asking that certain matters be brought before the Association. But
the papers that he has forwarded have not arrived yet, so that we may defer that matter
to see whether they arrive.
Mr. Stewart read the Annual Report of the Board of Directors as follows : —
Report of the Board of Directors.
The board of directors of the Canadian Forestry Association beg to submit their
third annual report.
Immediately after the last annual meeting the following appointm^ts of vice-
presidents for the provinces and districts were made : — Hon. Sir Louis Davies, Prince
Edward Island ; A. H. MacKay, LL.D., Nova Scotia ; His Honour J. B. Snowball,
New Brunswick ; Hon. S. N. Parent, Quebec ; J. B. Mc Williams, Ontario ; Major Stewart
Mulvey, Manitoba ; The Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, Keewatin ; J. S. Dennis,
Assiniboia ; P. G. Laurie, Saskatchewan ; Wm. Pearce, Alberta ; F. D. Wilson,
Athabaska ; H. Bostock, British Columbia.
The report of the annual meeting was issued and distributed as usual, and in this
connection your board wish especially to call attention to the kindness of the Depart-
ment of the Interior in providing for the publication of such a large ninnber of these
reports without expense to the Association.
The membership now stands as follows : —
Tliis Last
Provincen. year. year.
Nova Scotia 10 6
New Brunswick 10 9
Prince Edward Island 1 1
Quebec .. 34 2^
Ontario 128 117
Manitoba . .- 78 73
Assiniboia 15 17
Saskatchewan ' 4 4
Alberta 81 58
British Columbia 17 16
Yukon '1 2
United States 17 15
England 3 1
Germany 1 1
Total 400 347
Life members 9 9
The revenue for the year was $580.17 and the expenditure 8474.02, leaving a
balance of 6106.15.
The committee a])pointed U) consider methods for increasing the membership and
the arrangements for an official organ met after the annual meeting and formulated
certain suggestions, which were referred to the board.
In regard to the suggestions as to plans for increasing the membership, it has been
impossible for the secretary or assistant secretary, owing to the large amount of clerical
work which would have been involved, to carry them out fully. Efforts have been
made, however, in the direction indicated, and have resulted in the addition of a number
of meinlx»rs, who will add much to the strength of the Association. The Deputy Minister
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 13
of the Interior has kindly assented, at the suggestion of the board, to an arrangement
which it is hoped wiU help to overcome to some extent the difficulties which havi ham-
pered the extension of the work. If the Association is to have that expansion which
will ensure iis sucess, and is to reach those whom it wishes to influence, it is clear that
its work must be developed on larger and broader lines than those which, up to the
present time, have been possible of adoption. It is desirable that meetings should be
held in diflFerent parts of the Dominion, and that the officers of the Association should, in
this and other ways, have the opportunity of coming into more direct contact with those
who might be induced to give their assistance, so that the Association may be established
on a firm and broad basis both in numbers and influence. This question is worthy of
the fullest consideration by the members of the Association.
Another matter referred to the committee mentioned was the official organ, and the
board have had the subject under consideration for some time. The arrangement
formerly entered into with Bod a7id Gun hi Canada was continued during 1902, but in
order that the annual meeting might have a clear field for action, an alternative arrange-
ment was concluded for the present year, which may be terminated at the end of
three months or may be continued for the twelve months. For calling attention
distinctively to the Association and as a medium of communication amongst its members
there is no doubt that a publication devoted solely to the interests of the Association
would be most satisfactory, but there are two main difficulties in the way at the present
time.
The first is financial. The issue of a publication such as would properly represent
the Association would involve a larger expenditure than our somewhat slender income
would permit of. Your board considered it advisable, in view of the importance of this
step, to make application to the governments of the different provinces for financial
assistance, and, although no definite statement can be made at present, it is expected
that in this way this difficulty may be largely solved.
The second difficulty is in regard to the editorial work. Forest management is a
new study in Canada, and to maintain steadily throughout the year the high class of
articles which would be required for such a publication will be no easy task. It will
necessitate a more thorough organization of the editorial staff and the active co-operation
of all who are interested in forestry.
Tn accordance with the instructions contained in the resolution passed at the last
annual meeting on the question of a proper division between agricultural and non-agri-
cultural lands, a copy of the resolution was sent to the governments of each province
and also to the Dominion Government, and replies were received thanking the Association
for the suggestions offered.
Owing to the wfet summer throughout the whole of Canada east of the Rocky
Mountains, forest fires have, fortunately, not been numerous or destructive. Those
which did occur during the earlier and drier part of the season show that the danger is
still ever present, and that no relaxation can be permitted in the efforts to maintain and
increase the effectiveness of the fire preventive service. This is strongly emphasized by
the loss that has occurred in the Western United States, particularly Oregon and Wash-
ington, where half a million acres were fire-swept and the loss totalled up to about
twelve million dollars. Contrasted with this the effective prevention work done in the
railway belt in British Columbia, part of it contiguous to the burned area in Washing-
ton State, with a comparatively small staff, is a subject for congratulation.
Advance in British Columbia is marked by the adoption by the legislature of the
amendment to the penalty clause of the Bush Fire Act as suggested by this Association,
and the setting apart of Long Lake Timber Reserve and Yoho Park in the Railway Belt,
the latter of which, with the Rocky Mountains Park of Canada on the eastern slope of
the Rocky Mountains, which has been extended to include an approximate area of
2,280,000 acres, form one of the most magnificent forest parks in the world and one of
which Canadians may well be proud.
The setting apart of forest reserves is a decided step forward, but the question of
their administration is one that is far from being finally determined. The province of
Ontario during the past year formulated regulations for the administration of its
Digitized by
Google
14 CA XA DIA y FOREST R Y ASSOCIA TIOX
reserves, but these regulations did not deal with the cutting of timber for lumber pur-
pose.s,*and it seems advisable that this subject should be fully discussed by this Associa-
tion in order that the governments may be assisted in determining the proper policy to
be pursued.
At the last session of the legislature of Quebec a commission was appointed to in-
quire into forestry and colonization. Unfortunately, through uncontrollable causes,
this commission became disorganized and it has been necessary to reconstruct it. It is
sincerely to be hoped that a fair and thorough examination on the lines laid down for
this commission will be made by the province of Quebec, for in the proper adjustment
of the relations of these two interests lies one of the most important problems that the
province has to face, and one which will have a far-reaching influence on its future
prosperity.
In the province of New Brunswick an Act has been passed authorizing the setting
apart of a forest park, but its location has not as yet been determined.
In the province of Nova Scotia information is being gathered as to the forest lands
under control of the Crown, and it is altogether probable that some important advance
ill the administration of Crown lands will be made in the near future.
The work of co-operation with the farmers in forest tree culture on the treeless
prairies of Manitoba and the North-west Territories, which was started a couple of years
ago by the Department of the Interior, is now assuming large proportions and promises
to prove very successful. Besides about seven hundred pounds of maple and ash seed,
there will be distributed this spring over 900,000 trees to 627 farmers. This gives an
average of over 1,400 trees to each farmer, and the applications received from those
desiring to have their farms visited by the supervisors next season with a view of obtain-
ing trees the following spring are more than double that number. The total distribu-
tion when this spring's supply is furnished will be 1,424,800 trees and 1,400 pounds
of maple and ash seed. The reports received from the supervisors of the condition
of the trees planted in the spring of 1901 and 1902 were very satisfactory both in
the Province and the Territories.
The Winnipeg Forestry Association submit a resolution passed at a meeting held
in March of last year, asking that the members of that association be allowed member-
ship in the Dominion Association on payment of an annual fee of fifty cents only, for
each member, the remainder of the fee to be retained for the expenses of the local
association. While the fee for membership in this association is placed at as low a
figure as is at all reasonable, it may be worthy of consideration whether the encourage-
ment of such local associations would not be finally for the benefit of the Dominion
Association and the developing of a wider interest in forestry, and whether it might
not be advisable to make some arrangement that might meet the difficulty which has '
found formal expression in the resolution of the Winnipeg association and lead to a
closer connection between such local organizations and the Dominion Association.
The growing interest in forestry is evidenced by the recent action of Queen's Uni-
versity in arranging for a series of lectures on this subject during the month of January,
by Dr. E. B. Femow, Principal of the New York State College of Forestry. These
lectures were well attended and have done much to awaken the public to the importance
of the question. The interest aroused has culminated in a resolution to place foresti-y
among the regular subjects of instruction in the college curriculum.
The University of Toronto has also been taking steps looking towards the establish-
ment of a chair of forestry.
From the utterances of the government of the province of Ontario, it appears that
it has been decided to give such financial assistance as will lead to the inauguration of
a school of forestry. This action should receive the hearty endorsation of the Canadian
Forestry Association, for the demand for a more scientific knowledge and management
of our forests is growing, and it is only just that what has been done in the direction of
education for agriculture and mining, should also be done for forestry, which is capable
of becoming a science of the greatest exactitude.
The Association is to be congratulated on the hearty response with which its efforts
in the cause of forestry have been met by the public throughout the country, and your
Digitized by
Google
. CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIAT/OX 16
board desire again to tender thanks for the liberal assistance they have received from
the railway companies of the country in granting free return passage to the delegates
attending the annual meeting. They have also been greatly aided by the kindly recog-
nition given to the work by kindred societies, both on this contineht and Europe, and
also by the press in all parts of the country.
The Chairman — There is one point in the report that will require consideration,
and that is in relation to the suggestion to grant the privilege to other societies to
become members of this Association at a reduced fee.
Mr. Stewart — I think the better way would be to refer that report along with any
other reports that may be presented to a' committee to deal with. I think we would
get on better if we should do that and let it come up for discussion later on. It appears
to me that if we appoint a committee to take up the question we will save time.
Dr. Saunders — I think the whole matter might be loft to the directors of the
Association, who perhaps understand the position of affairs more fully than any com-
mittee appointed outside. I would move, in order to get the sense of the meeting, that
this report, as far as that part of it is concerned, which relates to the admission of sister
societies, or provincial societies, at a reduced fee, be referred to the directors to be
determined as they think best.
Mr. Stewart — There are several matters referred to in this report that I think
should be pronounced upon by the meeting. When I was in Winnipeg this question o^
their being allowed to come in without paying the full fee was spoken of. They have
a local association there ; I told them that I could not see very well how we could do
anything of the kind. They did not want JioU and Gun and they were paying fifty
cents a year for Hod and Gun. I said it might be mentioned at this meeting that we
would allow them to forego the privilege of taking Rod arid Gun and let them come
in for fifty cents. I did not promise anything, except that I would bring it before the
meeting and that it should be decided upon. There are other matters that might be
left to the committee on resolutions, and I would move that this be referred to the com-
mittee on resolutions which can be struck later.
Dr. Saunders seconded the motion.
Mr. Hiram Robinson, Ottawa — It may be well to have an expression from this
meeting in r^ard to some points in order to help the committee to come to a conclusion
rather than to leave the matter entirely to the committee. If we could get some ej^pres-
sion fix)m the meeting to help the committee, I think it would be well, and to this end
I would suggest that any gentleman who has anything to say on the subject should now
give expression to his views.
Mr. George Johnson — Mr. Chairman, nobody knows what the report contains. I
heard little of it. This room is not a good one for speaking in apparently, for it was
only occasionally I could hear v hat the secretary said, but that difficulty would be
obviated if these reports were printed in advance so that each one might have a copy
and then we would be in a much better position to discuss what the report contains and
give that intelligent assistance to the committee »f which Mr. Robinson speaks. At the
present time I certainly do not know what the subject is.
Digitized by
Google
16 CA XA DIA N FORESTR Y ASSOCIA TION
Dr. Saunders — In regard to the question x>f admitting other societies at what
appears to be a very small fee, I might say that great success has attended the Ontario
Fruit Growers' Association by the adoption of that method. They have adopted the
method of accepting half the regular fee of a dollar — that is fifty cents — from the mem-
bers of all horticultural societies in the province of Ontario, and the result is^ that their
membership has gone up to over 4,000, and while they give to each member in the
* Canadian Horticulturist ' more than the equivalent for the fifty cents that is received,
yet that gives them a considerable hold on the legislature for an increased grant to
make up the deficiency, because the interest in the work is extending, and there is more
good being done among the poople, and after all I think the legislature are prepared
to deal generously, if the subject is properly presented before them. I do not think we
should consider this in any narrow way at all. It is a matter of very little consequence
to the Association whether they give to any of their affiliated members more than they
receive from these members provided the great interests of forestry are promoted by the
means that are taken for that purpose, and provided a more intelligent interest is taken
by the community in general in the subject.
Mr. Campbell — Perhaps, bearing on this question, I might refer to a communication
I mentioned before from the Winnipeg Forestry Association. They sent a copy of the
resolution that has been referred to by Mr. Stewart, and I asked them to let me have a
list of the members of their association. I will just give the information as it may be
useful. There are five members who have paid their fees to the Dominion Association
for the past year, there are five who were previously members of the Dominion
Association who have not paid their fees for the past year, I suppose, expecting that
this resolution would be adopted by this Association and they would only be required to
pay a fifty cent fee. Then they have nine new members altogether who have never
been connected with our Association. So that the membership would be 19 in their
association, whereas, we had 10 out of that number who had at one time belonged to the
Dominion Association.
Prof. Macoun — There are two points in this discussion ; one is the financial aspect.
You may notice that the Winnipeg people are looking forward to getting a grant from
the Manitoba government. The rule is that when one section makes a break another
section follows suit, and it will not be many years before we have a forestry association
in each province and the legislation that we may enact now will be standing before us
either in our favour or against us in the future, therefore, I think it is our duty to look
at the matter from that point of view. But, there is this question, as you will see by
the report, the question of an official organ for the society, that is an organ purely
belonging to our society, not affiliated with Rod and Gun or any other paper. Now, if
these provincial societies that I am saying in the future will get provincial grants from
the provinces will give us a part of their grants in the form of say 50 cents a year
towards the publication of a paper for our society, why then, the scheme is plain. We
can have a first-class organ, we can have increased membership, we can have practical
men all over the Dominion working locally, and in the central association unitedly, in
another sense, so that when we take up the matter, if we make it right at the start, it
would be a grand thing. I believe, with Mr. Johnson, that the report should be put in
such a shape that a copy of it could be in the hands of the members of the Association.
It could be easily done. T hold in my hand the report in typewriting. We could get
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 17
some one to typewrite 20 copies so that by tomorrow afternoon it would be in the hands
of all, and we would have an opportunity of looking over it. This is an important
question.
Mr. Stewart — I beg to move that the following be a committee on resolutions :
Mr. Hiram Robinson, Dr. Saunders, Mr. Thomas Southworth, Mr. George Johnson,
Mr. R. H. Campbell, and the mover, to report at this meeting. We can refer this subject
to the committee. There are many matters to consider. I remember that two years
ago we had such a committee and it did good service. It can do no harm and the report
will come up before the meeting and then it can be discussed.
Dr. Saunders — I second that, pr9vided the name of the mover be added to the
committee.
Mr. Stewart — The mover's name is there.
Prof. Macoun — If that committee is appointed, I want to say that in my opinion
my idea expressed a few minutes ago is an important one, and that if the committee gets
this matter into its hands and fools away with it a day and a half it will not come
before the general meeting at all to-morrow afternoon. That is the question. There is
no use of shelving the thing. Will your resolution shelve the remarks I made in
connection with getting the report into the hands of the members by to-morrow after-
noon ] If it does that I am opposed to it totally.
Mr. Stewart — I do not want to have anything shelved. I am anxious to deal
with it the best way I can, and 1 can easily understand that if the members had the
report in their hands they would certainly be in a much better position to discuss it. I
cannot say whether I would undertake to have this report printed in sufficient numbers
for everyone that may be here, but if the meeting wishes it I will endeavour to get my
typewriter to make as many copies as he can by to-morrow or for the meeting of the
committee. In reading the resolution I thought I had read Prof. Macoun's name. I
intended Prof. Macoun to be on that committee, and he is on it. In addition to the
names I mentioned is that of Prof. Macoun. I believe the city papers would publish
this report if we asked them, and it would come out in the evening papers or to-morrow
morning.
Mr. E. G. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I am in sympathy with Prof. Macoun in the
opinion that every possible facility should be given to members to discuss this matter,
as far as preparing copies of this report for to-morrow so that we might be in a position
to appoint a committee with copies before them is concerned. I should think that if
the matter was put into the hands of any printing establishment in Ottawa there would
be no difficulty in rushing through the necessary number of copies for to-morrow morning.
Mr. Johnson. — There will be no difficulty at all in getting it printed. I can
undertake to get half a dozen copies printed. There are others connected with the
departments who could dp tha same. In two hours we could get all the copies that are
needed. I will undertake to get four. The thing ought not to have come in the form
in which it did. I want to know what is going on, and I cannot tell until I read the
report. You cannot tell anything about the report when you do not hear the whole of
o
Digitized by
Google
18 CANA DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TIOX
it. If we want intelligent action we should have everything in such a form that each
man could pick it up and deliberate upon it by himself.
Mr. Campbell. — I think the idea of Mr. Stewart's committee is that they should
take up all matters that are referred to in the report and submit such resolutions as
they think should be passed at this meeting to be discussed at a later time. The idea
is to lay before the meeting a set of resolutions so that we will not have to draft them
in the meeting and waste time. I can undertake to have as many reports as you
require.
Treasurer's Report.
Mr. Campbell presented the Treasurer's report showing receipts, S5S0.17, and
expenditure, $474.02, leaving a balance of $106. 15.
Dr. Saunders moved that the auditors Messrs. Geo. Johnson and J. M. Macoun be
reappointed for the ensuing year.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Stewart moved, seconded by Prof. Macoun, that the Treasurer's report be
referred to the auditors for examination.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Campbell. — The next order is inquiries and notices of motions. Those of you
who received the circular calling the annual meeting will see that a clause was put in
stating that a motion would be introduced to change the date of the annual meeting.
My reason for putting that in was that the Canadian Mining Institute meets at the
same time as this Association does, and one member at least of the Geological staff
spoke to me about the matter. He said that while the members of the Geological staff
were anxious to attend the meetings of this Association, they were more directly
interested in the Mining Institute and gave that the first place. I thought we could
make a change in the date of our meeting very easily that would avoid any clash with
the meeting of the Institute and thus permit more members of the Geological Survey
staff to attend our meeting. Therefore, I propose :
That in the second line of Clause VII. of the Constitution the word * second ' be
substituted for the word * first.'
Thus making the annual meeting on the second Thursday in March instead of the
first Thursday. This is a notice of motion only, and the motion will be submitted later.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTBY ASSOCIA TJON 19
FORESTS OF NEW BRUNSWICK.
His Honour J. B. Snowball, Lieutsiuint Governor at New Brunsivick.
The subject given me to deal with is Forestry in New Brunswick. In forestry
proper there is nothing whatever being done in the province, beyond the work of a few
wood rangers, whose duties it is during two or three summer months to protect the
forest from fires or rather to prevent settlers from burning their newly cleared land in
these the most dangerous months for fires.
Such fires on several . occasions have been very destructive. The Saxby Gale
(known as such) .which occurred in October, 1869, swept across the province and blew
down a section of well timbered forest on the tributaries of the south-west Miramicl>i
river, forty to fifty miles long by fifteen miles wide. The following year fire got into it,
and the whole district was burned over. For some reason this district has been im-
fortunate, as it has again been burned over since 1870, and the fire attributed to careless-
ness of settlers. Spots were missed both by the blow down and subsequent fires, these
spots being mostly hardwood ridges. The lumber blown down and bi^rned consisted
largely of rough pine, and was all Oown lands. The loss to the province and district
of this large section, over 700 square miles, is not less than a quarter of million dollars
annually, and the loss must continue unless some system of reforesting and better
protection is adopted.
All woods natural to our soil are manufactured and utilized for export. There is
very little hardwood square timber exported from this province. This wood is now
mostly sawn into deals, furniture squares or spool-wood squares and shipped in contract
sizes. The cedar is manufactured into shingles and exported largely to the United
States. There is very little pulp wood shipped. It is manufactured within the province
and shipped as pulp. The export value of the above commodities including spruce and
pine deals is estimated to amount to ten million dollars per annum.
There are different computations by various authorities on the area of the province
of New Brunswick, but it may be stated at 28,200 square miles ; or a little over
18,000,000 acres. About two-thirds of this, or 12,000,000 acres is forest lands. Of
this forest area about 60 per cent is estimated to be spruce land, 10 per cent pine, 5
per cent hemlock, 5 per cent cedar and 20 per cent hardwoods, which latter consist
principally of birch, beech, ash and maple.
For comparison I would repeat : —
New Brunswick has 12,000,000 acres of forest lands or 18,750 sq.
Norway k Sweden " 58,000,000 " " 90,625 "
Russia in Europe " 527,427,000 " " 824,104 "
The forest area of Europe is 687,000,000 " " 1,073,000 **
42 p.c. of Russia in Europe is under forest.
40
* Sweden
24
* Prussia
22 ^
* Norway
32
* Austria
16
* France
Every country of Europe has a large area of forest lands excepting Great Britain,
that has less than 4 per cent. All these countries are seeking more or less legislation
looking to the protection of their forests and the replanting of their denuded areas.
Germany has taken the lead in wise forestry administration, and most of other European
countries have established Forestry academies, and now conservation of wood lands
occupies prominent and studious attention.
^
Digitized by
Google
20 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCJA TION
The area of New Brunswick inland waters including rivers and lakes is about 400
square miles, and the salmon trout and other lishing on these waters is said to be equal
to the best in the world. The forest lands of the province also cover one of the best
game regions of North America, considered from the sportsman's standpoint of accessi-
bility from railways. Trappers also find New Brunswick forests rich in fur-baring
animals.
Persons desirous of settling on Crown lands of the province, whether they are
immigrants or residents, may acquire grants thereof, either under the Labour Act or
by cash purchase. Under the Labour Act one hundred acres may be obtained for the
performance of thirty dollars worth of work on the roads, or a payment of twenty
dollars cash in lieu thereof, the clearing and cultivation of ten acres of land, the build-
ing of a habitable house 16 feet by 20 feet and the continuous residing therein for three
years. The words * continuous residing ' are liberally construed, and under the law the
settler may be absent from his holding for certain months in the year,^to enable him to
engage in wage-earning occupations.
A Eeport on the Conditions of Lumbering and Forestry in Western Nova Scotia.
F, C. Whitman, Animpolis Royal, N.S.
About two years ago the subject of forestry was taken up by the local boards of
trade in Nova Scotia, and resolutions Were passed favouring government action that
would awaken the public to the value of the present forest growth, the necessity of pro-
tection from fires and advocating reforestation. The matter has been taken up by the
press and considerable interest shown the movement, but up to the present time nothing
further has been done. The writer can only present in a very humble way the general
conditions of the timbered areas in Western Nova Scotia. From the days of the firt^t
discovery of St. Mary's Bay and the Annapolis Basin, and the settlement at Port Royal
in 1505 the province has been noted for its forests. The growth was so dense in early
days that it was over 200 years before any roads were cut through it ; and the early
settlers in going even to nearby settlements had to depend on a single file path for foot
or horseback travel. It prevented in fact any opening of the back country, and the
settlements attempted proved failures. The occupied part of the country was the fringe
following the salt water of the coast and along the numerous rivers. The first trading
was with the New England States, but exports of wood were very limited, then later a
trading interest was developed with the West Indies, and lumber was exchanged for
sweets. The export to the West Indies still continues, and as other markets developed
the cutting of the forests became general. Every river and log-driving stream was fol-
lowed to its source, and as the lower timber was cut away loggers from the Atlantic
side driving on the La Have and Port Medway met and passed the loggers driving into
the Annapolis River ana the Bay of Fundy. All this • western country from La Have
and the headwaters of the Annapolis River to the Cape was a lumberman's paradise for
timber, and accessible by lake, stream and river for every tree that grew. Fifty year^
of steady cutting, followed in so many instances by fires that sometimes burnt to bed-
rock, presents to-day a sorry spectacle of waste and too often absolute desolation. It
was waste because the timber was cut in most instances to the last available stick that
was standing and thought merchantable, and fires allowed without any restriction,
except a fortunate summer rain, to finish what the axe had failed to thoroughly accom-
plish. It would seem that the man who conducted lumbering operations had but three
ideas : to get all in sight, leave nothing for the next man, and move on to some other
place. Now it has arrived at a point where those who move can find no new ground
in Nova Scotia, and within the past year provincial operators have gone north to New-
foundland and Labrador, the latter venture being a sealed book until the spring is well
advanced.
To give an idea of how the forests were so wantonly cut away it is necessary to
take up the matter of titles to the land. The original settlers chose of course the
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 21
valleys, and secured grants of large areas subdivided later into lots. A characteristic
holding would be a river frontage of a few chains or rods, and running usually on north
and south lines include a meadow or marsh next the river of level land, next the home
farm and roadway, then a clearing running back on higher ground to timber. Some of
these farms remain almost on original lines having a depth of several miles. The
settler cut his way to civilization with the axe and by fires, and in these later days
what he was unable to do himself in clearing land of forest growth has been done by
portable mills, which usually cut Vithout any restrictions. These small portables move
from one place to another for a cut of a few thousand feet, and will probably continue
to do so until it is unprofitable. Outside of these individual holdings was a large body
of timber in the interior divided by a water shed running east and west. The govern-
ment made generous grants to anyone who applied for this land, and the larger opera-
tors took possession of all but a few thousand acres that still remain Crown lands.
When cutting first began spruce, hemlock, and hardwoods were scarcely touched, it
began on the white pine until to-day it is commercially gone. The cutting of the
spruce followed and is still going on at the rate of 100,000,000 feet annually in this
district. The pulp mills are eating up the small growth, and the saw mills cut from
1 inch X 2 inches up. There has been for many years past a very large export to South
America of 1 inch x 3 inches and up, 2 inch x 3 inches and up, which also takes small
and young growth wood. These South American orders call for a proportion of 12
inches wide stock, and great difficulty is now found to secure the proper proportion.
The character of the cut of wood, and the increasing value of spruce lumber is tending
toward absolute denudation. I believe that it is opportune to undertake a movement
in the study of forestry, and that an appeal to the people in the interests of the country
would lead to a betterment before it is too late. The producing farm lands lie in the
valleys. The foot hills and the vast interior, although no longer a forest primeval, will
always be more suitable for wood growth than for any other purpose.
The standing timber in the order of commercial values would be as follows : —
White Phie, — Nearly all cut ; young growth scattering.
Spruce, — Old growth confined to holdings of large operators and in scattering
bodies on farm lots or remote sections. Young growth luxuriant everywhere, and will
■come to a size fit for commercial purposes in 30 years from breaking ground.
Hemlock. — Abundant in many sections, now being cut where easily accessible;
largely used for railway ties ; bark wasted.
Fir, — Trees die early ; much affected by insects. Used for cooperage.
Po/^Zrtr.- -Quick growth, but sound; stock small in size, scattered through low
lands or hillsides along stream. Used for pulp and staves.
Elm arid Cedar, — None.
Birch, White, — Abundant.
Birch, Yellow, — Abundant.
Birch, Redheart. — Scarce.
Maple, — Rock and softer kinds abundant, scattering birds eye.
Beech. — Abundant.
Oak, — Scattering, growth according to elevation ; mostly red oak, coarse open
^rrain. Used for car building.
Ash, — Very scattering, kept under by basket and hoop makers.
All the hardwood grows mixed and would only pay to cut as it runs.
White pine was largely used for ship building. The butt was often used and the
top wasted, as can be seen in nearby woods to-day. Spruce and all the hardwoods are
now used for ship building, and the fishing fleet annually takes a very large quantity.
It will be noted particularly that a northerly slope produces the better timber, having
a brighter foliage and a heavier growth. Where the timber has been cut away on a
southerly slope, and fires have occurred, the soil has lost its fertility and the new growth
is very sparse. In many cases so unsatisfactory do the conditions appear that it might
be considered waste land. As an instance of growth : In going to a favourite fishing
pool in September the writer, in going along a well-trodden path, had to step aside to
pass a young poplar that had sprung up and grown over eight feet in that one season.
Digitized by
Google
22 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
There were no signs of this tree on the same path in the spring. In 1 902 a graft of
russett apple, considered to be the slowest grower of any of the fruit trees, grew
6 feet 8 inches. It was grafted on wild stock. Lumbermen who have been careful
to cut spruce not less than 14 inches at the stump say that it will give them
a cut every ten years, and the second cut will be better than the first. (In Cum-
berland county, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, the growth is more vigorous, and
they can cut every seven years. Two thousand to two thousand five hundred acres will
produce a pacing annual cut, and the value of the whole be maintained with systematic
cutting.) One reason for this is that the Western N©va Scotia forest area is overgrown
in the number of trees, and the soil cannot support the growth unless thinned out.
Both hardwood and spruce have an early maturity, and once past that point rapidly
deteriorate. The soil is not rich and in many places does not retain sufficient moisture
to keep the old growth sound.
A good deal of wood is cut for fuel, but if the actual wage and time were reckoned
for the firewood that is brought to market it would be found that the work had been
done at a loss. Fortunately for those who can buy it, time is not the essence of the
contract with some Nova Scotians, and they are able to warm their toes at the expense
of another's hands. Lumber values, however, are steadily increasing, and within the
past ten years the price of spruce has advanced 35 per cent, while the increased cost of
lumbering is about $1.00 per thousand more than in former years. The country named
is not subject to violent wind storms, and little damage is done by winds except to
hardwood on exposed hills. There is an impression that the annual fall of rain and
snow is decreasing, but the lack of sufficient water for driving logs, and the disastrous
spring floods, may possibly be traced to the clearing out of timber along the water
courses, so that snows melt rapidly in the spring, and the land does not hold the mois-
ture that it did in early days. The extending area of farms in the Annapolis Valley,
and the clearing of wood from the foothills is very apparent every ensuing year, in
fact, bad land cracks and even wearing away of the soil is observ^able on the south slope
of the North Mountain. The past season many wells have been dry for months and
some have not been filled after the autumn or winter rains. If forest growth will con-
serve moisture it is time for farmers as well as lumbermen to interest themselves in
forestry. I regret this article is mainly about conditions. It is to be hoped that a start
will soon be made in the right direction and forestry seriously taken up by Nova
Scotians.
The Chairman. — We have had a couple of very good papers as to the forestry of
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and the subject is open for discussion now. As to
the suggestion that Mr. Johnson made that all these things should be printed, it seems
to me that would be prudent if we could get these papers earlier and that we should
know their contents before the meeting takes place. We really hardly know anything
that is in these papers from simply hearing them read when they come up for discussion ^
It seems to me if we expend a little money in having these papers printed before being^
presented to the meeting, we would be enabled to discuss these things much more intel-
ligently. It appears to me that if we discussed the papers which were read a year ago,,
we would know what we are talking about. However the subject is open for dis-
cussion, and if any gentleman-has anything to say on the subject we will be happy to
hear him.
Mr. Johnson. — Mr. President, in respect to what you have said that we should
come here loaded, we cannot do that unless we have the report in advance. We can
then come here to unload ourselves, which is what we ought to do.
In respect to Nova Scotia, I may say the area of the Crown lands there is now small,
not more than 1 J million acres of Crown lands remaining. The land is in the hands of
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASS0C2A TION 23
private individuals. In the Annapoli-J and Cornwallis Valleys referred to by Mr.
Whitman in his paper, the various stages have been : — 1st narrow cuttings into the
forest on the first bench along the tidal waters of the Bay of Fundy and Basin Minas
and the rivers flowing into them. There the French built their houses. Then,
2nd, they set to work to reclaim from the tides the dyked lands of Grand Pre and other
parts. Behind their homes on the first bench or rise of land next to the dyke lands was
the dense forest, on which the settler depended for his lumber and his firewood. As set-
tlement increased and as after the deportation of the French the New Englanders came
flocking in, further demands were made on the forest till now the northern slope of the
Grand Pre region and the southern slope of the Gaspereau Valley are without forest
altogether. This process has gone on all over an area of some 450 square miles of what
has become, under enterprise of its people, one great orchard, the land being the best in
the world for the cultivation of the apple. The forest has disappeared. The orchard
has taken its place. There is no hope that the forest can, in that region, be developed
again. I do not see that we can do veiy much as a forestry association there. It would
be a good thing if we could persuade the people, to keep the South Mountain and the
North Mountain as a forest reserve, for two reasons, because of the great natural wind-
break they form, and because as the land is denuded of its forest trees the insects whose
natural habitat is among them, accommodate themselves to the changed conditions, an<^
soon begin to attack the fruit trees. In this direction this association could do good.
In a general way to make the Forestry Association of any benefit, I think we
should adopt the course I suggested, as we have so much more ground to cover elsewhere
throughout the Dominion.
Prof. Macoun — In hearing the last paper read, I thought it was just an epitome of
the destruction of the forests that was going on in every province of the Dominion, and
Nova Scotia has got nearly into the position now of the moon ; she has nothing left. Her
atmosphere is gone and all is gone. The writer of the paper showed you what it was
and what it is, but here is the point that I want to emphasize, some years ago, as
Patrick would say, I was *agin' private proprietors of our lands ; I do not see why all of
our timber lands should get into the hands of private individuals. Now, sir, I am in
favour of it. Why 1 Because our governments are like any other corporation ; they
are of no value in the preservation of the land of the country. There is not enough
money in it for them. It is common sense ; if I own 10,000 acres of pine land, do you
think I would sit passively in Ottawa and not see that it was properly guarded. When
Mr. Johnson speaks of Western Nova Scotia, I can tell him publicly what I have told
him privately, that when the people take the wood off that northern mountain and let
the Bay of Fundy air into the Annapolis valley, good by to their grand orchards. That
is not all ; the paper states that the lands that are in the valley now, and that are
being preserved, are in whose hands 1 — the hands of private individuals, and in Ontario
to-day the lands that are in the hands of private individuals are looked after carefully,
and I have no doubt the lands of Ontario to-day are better looked after than those of
any other province in the Dominion, so that, between the government on the one hand
and private individuals on the other, our forests are being fairly well protected, but
there is no province in the Dominion where adequate protection is being carried out, and
I have been up and down all of them. In British Columbia they have the grandest
forests on the globe, and yet they are going to destruction every year, and the only hope
Digitized by
Google
24 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
for the country today, is to get the lands into the hands of private individuals and then
they will look after them for their own interest, and their own interest is the interest of
the country. Better have a few millionaires owning these lands, and give employment
to the people, than allow them to remain in the possession of the government which will
allow the lands to be destroyed and impoverished as well as losing the revenue which
they should obtain from these splendid forest lands.
The Chairman — I may say there is a very great deal of truth in what Prof.
Macoun says.
Mr. George Y. Chowx, Kingston — Mr. President, it is with a great deal of tre-
pidation that I rise to take exception to the ground taken by Prof. Macoun regarding
the advisability or inadvisability of private individuals owning all our forest land. I
think it might seem on the surface I might say, that it is advisable in the interest of the
preservation of the forests that the land should be preserved by individuals as against
the government, but after all is it not the real fact of the case that it is because we have
not as an Association and those interested in forestry, poked up the government suflBci-
ently to impress upon them that it is their interest to show that they represent the
people in this matter ? I have had the privilege at Kingston and other places, of sit-
ting at the feet of Prof. Femow, and if there is one fact that he has driven into us, it
is that the individual cannot do forestry work, that the returns are too slow and the
interests are too great to make it advisable for the individual to undertake reforesta-
tion as a private industry. A large company who are content to look to the future for
their profits and to carry their capital in the increased increment of the wood may be
able to do sq, but the ordinary individual must see to it that he is getting a proper and
immediate return, and he cannot afford to risk the danger from fires and winds and
insects that threatens the forest. Therefore, we must, if we are going to have proper
attention paid to forestry, depend on the governments, and it is our duty to see that the
governments are the forces which are to protect the forests. We must see to it that,
acting for the people, they must protect our forests, and by their stumpage dues and in
other ways receive their return, not to-day or to-morrow, but in 25 or 30 years hence
receive that profit and return that the people should receive from their forests. I think
it would be an unwise thing for this Association to let it go out to the country that they
are taking the stand the government should deprive themselves of the control of these
forest lands, and that they are going in for individual forestry. I should prefer that
the government should more and more take control of the forests, and that more and
more should the persons who are put in control of these forests be guided by the ideas
which we are trying to inculcate here.
Professor Macoun. — Mr. Chown did not i*ead between the lines in my speech.
The Chairman. — I think that after all it will be found that this gentleman and
Prof. Macoun are not far apart. Prof. Macoun refers, as I understand it, to existing
forests, Mr. Chown refers to forests to be grown, and the fact is that the growth of new
forests must be undertaken by the government. This matter came very prominently
before me when I was in London. Dr. Lyon, a member of the British parliament, was
trying to get the government of Great Britain to provide for the reforestation of certain
portions of Ii*eland. He wrote to me and asked if I would assist him, and I told him
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCJA TION 25
that this work must be done by the government, for the simple reason that the country
had a right to ask the government to do it, and for the further reason that the govern-
ment coidd get the money necessary at a low rate of interest. The money must be got
at an exceedingly low rate of interest if the undertaking was to be of any value as an
investment. I further said to him that you could not expect to derive any revenue for
about sixty years above the cost of caretaking, and when you took the difference between
an individual and the government in the matter of obtaining the money necessary, the
disadvantageous position of the individual will at once be apparent. He said it would
take £2 per acre to plant these lands without reference to the value of the lands them-
selves. At about 8 per cent for interest, compounded semi-annually, it would cost the
individual, this would mean an outlay of about sixty times the original sum (actually
110 times) without any immediate return. At the rate of 3 per cent it would only cost
the government about five times the original outlay. I have not the figures, but at any
rate the difference would be over twenty times in favour of the government. The idea of
Prof. Macoun is this, there is a very valuable forest and the government are looking after
other matters than protecting it as a Crown forest. The individual would take more
care of it, and it would be better that the individual, even if he did make a little money
out of it, should do so when he has to give employment to labour than that the forest
should be burned up and destroyed. I think we are doing right and that we ought to
make it the interest of the government to protect the forests and to realize that the
forests constitute one of the most valuable assets they have in the country, but none of
us would say that the individual should take this work away from the general public.
Mr. Johnson. — I do not see that there is any difference between Mr. Chown and
Prof. Macoun at all. They both go in for the millionaire to take charge of it. The
millionaires are very few in number ; one of them is Mr. Vanderbilt. I do not know
but that Mr. Vanderbilt has shown that a millionaire can do better than the govern-
ment. While the millionaires are so few and the govermment is one of them, I have no
objection.
Mr. Thomas South worth, Dii'ector of Forestry for the Province of Ontario. — Mr.
Chairman, I have heretofore had the idea that Prof. Macoun was loaded up to some
little extent with socialistic ideas and to hear from him that the millionaires shoidd own
our timber limits struck me with some little surprise. Did it not occur to Prof. Macoun
that if private owners are protecting their timber limits it must be to some extent due .
to the fact that they are in partnership with the government? I think it will be
admitted that the initiation of protective measures adopted by private owners originated
with government officials and was adopted by them in. partnership with the govern-
ment and it is in partnership that they hold their lands. There are no other private
holdings of timber lands to any extent in this country except as joint owners.
Prof. Macoun. — All I spoke for, Mr. President, was to get gentlemen to stop and
think and it has been done. I am with the gentlemen who are in favour of the govern-
ment owning forest lands, .but when the government do not do their duty I am with
Mr. Chown who says that they ought to be poked up a little more. When I stand here
and look at the country from Mattawa to the Pacific Ocean I feel that I could burst
into tears at the awful destruction, and it is going on all the time. We have to keep at
them. As 1 said the other day at another meeting : I had been with a gentleman four
Digitized by
Google
26 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA HON
times and I said that I could not touch his conscience, and a gentleman said * poke him
once more/ and I did and got blood.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I am very much in sympathy with the first remarks
made by Prof. Macoun, that is that the individual should take upon himself that which
I take upon myself to a large extent, the protection of his lands in co-operation with
the government. We will suppose the case of a large limit holder ; the government has
its forest rangers over the district. What I maintain is that the government fire
ranging system is not sufficient and that the private owner, though he is called upon to
pay the government a certain percentage per mile for forest protection each year, should
still, for the sake of his limits, take upon himself a certain amount of protection. He
should have a fire ranger present, he should organize some system of protection during
periods when there is any danger of fire. I may mention what we do in this small way
in protecting our timber in Lotbiniere through which the railway passes. As you
gentlemen all know in many cases it is where the railway passes that the fires occur as
will be evidenced on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the coast. Our property
forms part of a comparatively large section of forest which stretches over an area of from
thirteen to fourteen miles. Of coui'se there is no government aid there ; it is private
property and we are called upon to look after our own interests absolutely. We have oir
the section of twelve miles of railway intersecting the forest two gangs of men during
dangerous weather. Each gang is provided with one of those railway velocipedes, shovels,
hose, buckets and so on, and as the trains pass one gang will patrol six miles one way,
and the other gang will patrol six miles the other way. I cannot tell you the number
of incipient fires that we have put out in the last six years since the Intercolonial
has passed through this section. I am glad to say that our neighbours in the west
have more or less adopted the same policy, and we have been mercifully protected
against disastrous fires. I simply mention this fact to emphasize what I said at first
that if you want efficient projection you should not rely altogether on the govern-
ment. I believe that any man who is rich enough to own a thousand miles of pine
limits, or 2,000 miles, is also rich enough, since he cannot insure his property, to pay
what the government ask for generous fire protection, and he is also rich enough during
the periods when there is danger from forest fires to organize gangs of men to patrol
these lands in most places where fires may originate. We should not throw everything
on the government, we should co-operate with the government and should help our-
. selves also, and if limit holders would but co-operate and go further than the govern-
ment in protecting the forests from fire they would not have the disastrous and terrible
effects they are having at the present time.
Mr. AuBEEY White, Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for Ontario. — Mr .
President, I should like to make a remark or two in connection with what has fallen
from Mr. Joly where he has said that the lumbermen ought to provide rangers in addi-
tion to those that the government keeps employed. I suppose he is more particularly
referring to the system that prevails in the province of Quebec, where I understand,
the rangers are appointed by the governinent and where the. limit holders are assessed
so much a mile for that protection. We, in Ontario, have an entirely different system.
We do not tAx the limit holders so much a mile for fire ranging, but we say to the limit
holder : How many men do you think are necessary to protect your limit ? He tells us,
then we say to him : You no doubt think the best men to protect that limit are your
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 27
foremen or rangers who are familiar with the topography, and we will leave it to you to
get the men. He pays half the expense and we pay half. In that way a partnership
is established between them and the expense is borne between them. That system has
been found to work very well with us and we have been fairly successful. I do not wish
to anticipate the few remarks I will have to make this afternoon in connection with fire
ranging, but merely to point out the distinction between the two systems in the two
provinces. I wish to say that in the past, fires always followed railway construction.
I do not think there is any necessity for that if proper care is exercised during the period
of construction. Most of you know that when the Canada Atlantic Railway was con-
structed through a densely-timbered part of the province very little fire occurred during
the construction or since. The explanation of that is very simple, however ; rangers
were placed there during the construction under the superintendence of the chief ranger,
who is also a magistrate, to see that no fires gained headway, and so we have been suc-
cessful in protecting the forests from fire. I do not think there is any difficulty at all,
provided that course is pursued in places where there is railway construction going on .
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNii:RE — What I meant by fires following the railways was not
so much fires following during the period of construction but during the subsequent
operation of the railway. If those who are opening their tracks through the forests
were able to cope with fires, to see that there is no danger and to see that the fire is
properly put out, that is fairly safe while putting the railway through, but it is after
the railway is built and there are hundreds and hundreds of miles of forest that the rail-
way is running through and no adequate protection — that is where the danger comes in.
Mr. Campbell — Perhaps I might say in connection with this discussion, that in
regaixi to the question of the government of Nova Scotia taking an interest in the sub-
ject of forest preservation or management, I think the government are beginning to
wake up to the importance of the question, but if they are to be kept fully alive
to it there has to be an interest taken in it by this association and by the lumbermen
and others down in Nova Scotia who are particularly interested in it. I suppose that
private individuals who are holders of timber lands naturally understand the situation
in regard to forest fires better than some members of governments who are not practi-
cally interested in the subject until they find themselves filling positions which require
them to take an interest in it, and they need to have the information as to the needs of
the cabo placed before them. When Mr. Whitman sent his paper up to me, I wrote to
him and asked what this association could do to assist in bringing this matter to the
attention of the government and to invite some action. He replied saying that he
thought it would be a good thing if we could have a meeting of this association at Hali-
fax some time during the session of the local House or during exhibition week in Septem-
ber. More than that, our Vice-president for Nova Scotia has induced the Crown Lands
Department to send out circulars all over the province to limit-holders and others who
may have knowledge of the forest lands in Nova Scotia, requesting that, facts and opin-
ions be submitted, so that this information can be gathered together and be at the dis-
posal of the department in any steps they may take to arrange a forest policy. When
the conference of provincial representatives was held in Ottawa to meet the Dominion
Government, I availed myself of the opportunity of speaking to Hon. Mr. Longley, who
has charge of the Crown Lands in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately I could only have a few
minutes' conversation with him, but he expressed great interest in the matter and wanted
Digitized by
Google
28 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
all the information he could get on the subject. He said, * What steps can we take ?
On what lines can the government work ? Any information coming from the associa-
tion which will help us to settle what we are to do, will be welcomed.' There is where
our association can do some good work if it will only take hold of the opportunity.
Mb. N. McCuaig (Superintendent of Forest Rangers, District No. 1, Quebec) —
Mr. Chairman, I hold the position of Superintendent of Forest Rangers for the Upper
Ottawa river district in the Province of Quebec, while Mr. Cormier is Superintendent of
Forest Rangers in the eastern part of the province. Probably he covers a territory of
30,000 miles in extent, and has under him a large number of men. As to the system
we have in the Province of Quebec, I do not know whether it has been fairly represented
by Mr. White, who spoke a moment ago. I do not find that there is a great deal of
difference between the system in Ontario as compared with the system in Quebec and
also the system that obtains over the Dominion. The mere matter of paying the men
may constitute a very small difference. In Quebec our ranj^ers are under the superin-
tendence of the government ; in Ontario they are controlled partly by the government
and partly by the lumbermen. Many lumbermen tell me that they are not at all
satisfied with the system in Ontario, and that our way is the proper way, while some of
them think that the Ontario system is the better one. But it must not be overlooked
that one of the principal uses of fire protection is to take care of the fire in its incipient
stage. There is no system of fire protection that can compete with a fire after it has
fairly started. There must be something to stop it. It must wear itself out by coming
to an extensive sheet of water or by being checked by a change of the wind. But we
cannot always place a lake in front of a fire. Then, the principal duty of the ranger is
to try and do what he can to prevent the fire from getting a start. I do not know that
loss by fire since I had anything to do with the superintendence compares unfavourably
with that of Ontario or any province of the Dominion. I think our system works fairly
well if we take a little care of it. We are trying to urge upon the government to give
us a little more of it. The number of fires we have dealt with successfully the past few
years is something surprising. We had a fire in the Temiskaming country, one of the
worst fires we have had, and it came from the province of Ontario, where they had no
protection at all. Our ranger happened to be at the Indian village at the head of Lake
Temiskaming and he got out a large number of the villagers and succeeded in getting
the fire put out. Another fire which we had during that same year is what we call the
Hay Bay and Chippewa fire in a district where there was a considerable second growth.
That fire was started by settlers. I hold that in order to deal properly and successfully
with these incipient fires it is necessary to try and get the co-operation of the munici-
palities, ^because they always occur on the outskirts of the municipalities and it is
necessary to try and get co-operation between the rangers of one province and the
rangers of the other. We have a system of special rangers. The regular ranger has
his beat cut out and he has to take special care of it. At a given time he may not be
very far from a settlement and yet far enough away from it that he cannot assist at a
fire that may occur on the border of the settlement. If there was provision mcule by
which the citizens of the municipality could be called upon and be made responsible for
the care of these fires I think it would be a step in the right direction. This is a diffi-
cult question, I know, to deal with, but I hope our government will act in this way and
then we will have more relief from settlers' fires.
Digitized by
Google
CANA DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 29
Mr. White — I wisb to correct a misapprehension ; that is, that I instituted a com-
parison between the systems in Ontario and Quebec. I instituted no comparison at all.
I merely said they paid their rangers by one system and we paid ours by another.
. Mr. Stewart — This discussion has taken a pretty broad range. We set out with
some academic discussion as to the views of Adam Smith, and now we have got to the
fire rangers. This afternoon there will be a discussion on the fire rangers and this
subject will come up again. I want to say a word as to the different systems in the
different provinces of the Dominion. There is no need of any discussion as to the relative
merits of different systems, because what is suitable in one province may be unsuitable
in another. The system of Quebec is different from that in Ontario. I had a few years
ago to frame some regulations for the protection of the forests in the far West, and what
would apply to Ontario and Quebec would not be suitable there. I had hoped this
afternoon that Mr. James Leamy would have his paper here, because, having charge of
our work in British Columbia, he would be able to give the results of his work there.
In that country we have taken a different plan in this way : a great deal of the country
is still under the Crown, it is not leased and we have our rangers appointed under
supervisors. In the railway belt of British Columbia there are nine rangers controlled
by one man, under whose supervision they act. In wet seasons they are not out at all.
The supervisor has authority to call them out in dry times and to tell them to stop when
their services are no longer necessary, and he certifies to their accounts. In that coun-
try we have been very successful. In the North-west Territories it is somewhat different.
However, all this will come up in the afternoon, and as I find that there are some
other matters to be discussed in connection with these papers, I would make the sugges-
tion that we adjourn until two o'clock, when the papers of Mr. Hendry, Mr. White and
Mr. Leamy will come up.
On motion of Mr. Stewart, the meeting adjourned at 12.30 p.m. until two o'clock.
Digitized by
Google
30 CAISA DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
Afternoon Session.
The meeting was called to order at 2:30 by the President.
FOREST FIBES.
Mr. Stewart read a paper on forest fires prepared by Mr. W. A. Hendry, fonnerlj
Deputy Commissioner Crown Lands, Halifax, N.S.
FOREST FIRES.
W. A. HENDRY, FORMERLY DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS FOR NOVA SCOTIA.
Ever since I came to the province in 1839 I have heard and read of the destructive
nature of * forest fires' remarked upon. The axe, if used ^ith ordinary judgment, Ls a
benefit to the forest, whereas fire sweeps everything before it and is a positive destruc-
tion for the time.
It is said by intelligent lumbermen that a forest, say of spruce, will recover itself
in from 16 to 18 years.
I have been travelling over and conducting surveys in every county of the province
for upwards of sixty years, and can name places where to connect surveys two miles of
naked burnt barrens had to be measured over. Recently the same land has been ap-
plied for as lumber land and found to be covered with a dense growth of young spruce.
This fact shows the marvellously recuperative nature of Nova Scotia as a timber pro-
ducing country. As an example, take the section of country from the head of Bedford
Basin to the Halfway House or Pockwoch Lake, say 40 square miles would cover the
area of the section referred to. Halifax has been built from that section. The houses,
stores, wharfs^ sidewalks, all wood, as also the fish barrels and boxes all come from that
section. I ran out several lines this winter and found the land as well wooded as it
was 60 years ago, except the pine, which does not grow as fast as spruce. In addition,
an enormous quantity of shingles, shocks and boards has, during the last hundred years,
been shipped to the West Indies. In the above section there are, as it were, three
settlements : first, house builders ; second, coopers ; third, shingle makers, and I re-
member seeing through the section about ten saw-mills. The above may be taken as a
fair sample of the province generally where soft wood prevails. The soil of this section
is not much as profitable farming land. It is a cold, heavy clay soil, resting on Sil-
urian rock.
Preston township, just back of Dartmouth, is mostly naked granite ; one would
wonder how trees could have grown upon it. When I came to the province that granite
range, called the Preston Hills, was studded over with large trunks of old pine trees
called rampikes ; the roots were large and it was a curious and interesting study to
observe how far they had to travel in search of food, but decomposed felspar of the
granite gave an ample supply of lime and soda. That section of country, say from Bed-
ford Basin extending eastwardly, has been more or less under fire every year since I
have known it. Naked and desolate as this section of country is, were it left alone, i.e.,
remove man from it, and in forty years it would be a dense forest.
The time to put a forest fire out is night— begin after 10 p.m. On three occasions
I was the means of putting out forest fires, but had always to pay men who assisted out
of my own pocket.
Nova Scotia is a remarkably good tree producing country from end to end and
from side to side, provided fires were not made. All the forest fires I have known have
been the result of * cussedness* or carelessness. Had the country l)een left alone the most
barren portions would be covered with trees.
Digitized by
Google
CAXADIAX FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 31
For the sake of calling your attention to what I consider a reliable record is the
excuse I offer for copying a short paragraph from a long article by the late Titus Smith .
on the subject of forest culture and protection.
* This province was originally covered with soft wood, chiefly red and black spruce
mixed with balsam firs. The most barren portion always had a mixture of white pine
and the best of the soft wood ground was chiefly occupied by hemlock, which generally
had a sprinkling of tall spruce, fit for mast timber, and a few large yellow birches. Pre-
vious to 1783 the few Indians in the country had the forest all divided among their
families, their limits being sometimes traced on rude maps drawn on the bark of the
paper birch. No Indian was permitted to set a trap on the land of another, nor to
start a moose from the yard where he had stationed himself for the winter. Viewing
the wild animals as their property, they were very cautious never to set fire to the
woods, as in a dry season in summer the leaves of the spruce and firs are remarkably
combustible and fires spread very rapidly, making havoc among the moose and rabbits
(which are a small kind of hares who never burrow in the ground).
* In 1783 a great number of refugees and discharged soldiers came into the prov-
ince and new settlements were formed round the shores. The following year there was
no rain in June, the last week in May and the first ten days of July. The barren lands
covei-ed with thickets of spruce were set on fire and within a fortnight, it is believed,
more than half the province was burnt over. A single fire kindled by an old soldier
had in five days run more than fifty miles. The green leaves of the spruce and fir pro-
duce a most extraordinary quantity of both smoke and flame, and with a high wind the
fire will often run a mile in t^n minutes. The moss and litter was burnt off the ground
and all the leaves of the trees consumed. These fires did not pass over the hardwood
land, and in most cases the hemlock groves escaped, as this tree does not form a cone
covered with branches, but generally forms a stem from 18 to 30 inches in diameter,
which rises from 30 to 50 feet to the lowest branches of its round head. The edges,
however, of the hemlock and hardwood land were killed for a distance of 30 to 50 yards by
the flame of the adjoining spruce. The large swamps also escaped and served for seed
beds to introduce wood again into the burnt land.'
It may not be out of place hei'e to remark that the late Titus Smith in his life-
time knew more of the natural history of the province than any other man then living.
See his reports of his journeys over the province in 1800, '01, '02, made under special
commission from Sir John Wentworth, then governor of the province ; also his evidence
before the * Durham ' Commission in 1839, in which he gives the natural history and
condition of each county in the province, also, lectures on botany and many articles in
the old Acadian Recorder on forest culture and protection.
In the annual reports of the Department of Agriculture of the United States there
are many able, earnest articles on the subject of forest protection and its importance to
national health, wealth and prosperity. In this province of Nova Scotia you have only
to leave the land alone and it grows up with trees. To protect the forest follow the
example of that simple, harmless people, the old Acadian French, and the aboriginal
people of the country, he careful about fires.
HISTORY AND RESULTS OF THE FIRE RANGING SYSTEM IN ONTARIO.
Mr. Aubrey White, Deputy Commissioner Crown Lands, Toronto, being called
upon by the Chairman, spoke as follows : Mr. Chairman, I think there is some mis-
apprehension that I would read a paper at this meeting of the Forestry Association.
Some time ago I had a communication from the Secretary and I thought at that time
that I might be able to read a paper, but I found my time was so fully occupied that I
could not prepare anything that would be worthy of the occasion of the annual meeting
of this association, in fact I said I was afraid I would not be able to be here, but I
found I could be here and in speaking with Mr. Southworth, I said that I would come
Digitized by
Google
32 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
here and take part in the discussions, not intending to prepare a paper or anything of
.that nature. But I find that I am down on the notice paper of this meeting, to read a
paper on Fire Ranging. I cannot do that because I have not prepared any paper,
but I have made some notes and I have the subject matter fairly well in my hetui so
that I shall be able to tell you the origin, so far as Ontario is concerned, of the fire
ranging system, what progress we have made and the results that we have attained.
You will all know that the subject of protecting forests from destruction by fire is one
which has been interesting the Governments of this country and individuals who are
financially interested for a considerable length of time. Large quantities of pine timber
and other timbers have been destroyed from time to time by fires, and great losses have
been entailed, riot only upon the province, but upon the individual limit holders. The
province is interested very largely, because it is the owner of the stumpage upon the
lands of the Crown, and it also has an interest in the licensed lands to the extent of the
Crown dues upon the timber, as it is cut, which amounts to from $1 to $1.25 per
thousand feet. In addition to the interests of the Government and of the licensees
there are several other interests. I am not going to touch upon all of them, but there
is the interest of those people who love to see nature in its original state. Speaking for
myself, I am one of those people. In my early days in this country, I almost lived in
the forest, trading with the Indians,' and I can recollect seeing hundreds upon hundreds
of beautiful little lakes almost like diamonds, set in the emerald green of the forest, as
I moved about from place to place. Year after year afterwards, when I visited some
lakes, I found nothing but blackness and desolation. That to me, was a matter of great
regret, as it must be to anybody who loves the forest, and who loves to see it in its
natural green state. Any person who has been accustomed to canoeing, and who, after
going through a long hot portage, puts his canoe into the water, gets into it and is able
to sit there and look on the beautiful lake and at the green carpet extending from the
shore to the highest point, knows what a beautiful and consoling sight it is to anybody
who has an eye for the beautiful. But, I must not speak as to the beautiful, I am here
to speak as to the financial part, that is the loss of the timber. We thought in the
province of Ontario, that something ought to be done to put an end to the tremendous
injury being incurred and the first step that was taken in that direction was the passage
of an Act known as the * Act to provide for the preservation of the Forests from de-
struction by fire.' That was passed in the year 1878 when Mr. Pardee was Commissioner
of Crown Lands. The Act itself shows a knowledge upon the part of the person who
framed it, of the people who mainly cause forest fires, how these fires are caused and it
provided pains and penalties for those who do not observe the law. The law was to be
enforced by Crown Ijand Agents, Crown Timber Agents and Forest Rangers. Well, I need
scarcely say to you, gentlemen, who are acquainted with the subject, that the duties of the
Crown Lands Agents, comparatively speaking, did not take them into the bush, and that
therefore, so far as they were concerned, they were not calculated to put the law in force,
for they did not succeed in finding the people who broke it. The same may be said of the
Crown Timber Agents and as there were very few of them at that time, they did not
get about very much. Then, we really had no other officers, except a few forest rangers
who could not begin to look after the settlers and others when setting fires. The con-
sequence was, as usually occurs, where everybody was left to see that the Act was en-
forced, the Act was not enforced and it became, to a great extent, a dead letter. Mat-
ters remained in that condition until the year 1885. I had come into the Crown Lands
Department in 1882 and Mr. Pardee, knowing that I had had some experience as a
Digitized by
Google
The White Pine (Pinus Strobus).
[p32.]
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 33
lumberman and as a ranger, or Crown Timber Agent, thought that I ought to be able
to advise him as to some system or scheme which would be beneficial, and he asked me
to prepare a memorandum. I prepared a memorandum for him in the year 1885.
That memorandum embodied a scheme for a system of forest rangers. I pointed
out to him that the dangerous period of the year, so far as forest fires
were concerned, would be between May 1 and October 1. I underatand
that in the Ottawa district sometimes the month of April is dangerous, but
generally speaking the dangerous period is from May 1 to October 1, and I suggested
that a number of men should be placed upon the licensed lands during that period, and
that, as to the number of men which would be requisite for that purpose, we in the
Crown Lands Department were not in a position to say. You will easily understand
that a great deal depends upon the topography of a limit and how it is cut up by lakes
and streams, and also how the timber is situated, as to the number of men it will be
necessary to have in making proper provision to take care of it. I said to the commissioner
that the people who will understand all about that will be the licensees, because they
know the timber limits ; their foremen and rangers are thoroughly acquainted with them
and can advise them and they will be the people best calculated to tell us how many men
are necessary for each limit. So we decided to leave it for the lumbermen to state the
number of men they would require for each of their limits, each lumberman speaking
for himself. And, having determined upon leaving the number of men to the licensees,
the next question was who should appoint the men, who should select the men. Well,
it appeared to me, and I am glad to say it appeared also to the Commissioner of Crown
Lands that we ought as far as possible to eliminate everything of a political nature, that
it should not have even the smell of politics, because, whether it is right or not, any
service of this nature that is carried on under Government superintendence and paid
entirely by the Government is sometimes criticised and attacked, whether rightly or
wrongly I am not going to say, but the fact remains that there is always a suspicion that
it is being used for political patronage. Mr. Pardee was anxious to eliminate that idea
from the service. He wanted to get the confidence of the public, and, above all, the
confidence of the lumber trade, in order to make this system a success. Then we
concluded to leave the selection of the men to the individual limit holders also, because
we felt satisfied that they had in their employment men who knew their limits just as
well as I know the Crown Lands Department, who would know where the dangerous
points were, who would know the character of the settlers, who would know where the
hunters were in the habit of passing, and generally where travel was passing through
their limits, and they would be able to select the best men to put them on duty, and
not only to put the men on duty, but to see to some extent that they performed their
duties. Therefore, it was finally left to the lumbermen not only to say how many men
they wanted, but to say who the men should be, and in that way, I think, we invited
the confidence and respect of the trade. Now, sir, having got the men selected by the
lumbermen, the next point was the instructions that should be given to them. It was
quite unnecessary and it would have been very foolish of me to undertake to instruct
men who knew the bush, who were accustomed to it, who knew the characteristics of the
people that were going into that part, how they should proceed in a particular instance.
We must leave to those on the spot, knowing all the circumstances of the men they had
to deal with, to determine what steps were necessary in the premises. But, we did ask
that they should select men who were cool in temper and of good judgment, and that
they should impress upon them the necessity for not attempting to harass or unnecessarily
Digitized by
Google
34 CA NA DIA N FOBJCSTR T A SSOCIA TIOX
annoy settlers, because, I need not say to you, gentlemen, who are experienced in this
matter, that if you antagonize the settlers, if you create on their part an antagonism and
a desire to get even with you, why ten thousand men would not protect the forest lands
of this province from destruction by fire, because it is the simplest thing in the world to
throw a match or a little bit of fire here and there, and so it was that we were desirous
that these men should be cool and temperate in character, and should, instead of being
arrogant with the settler, endeavour to enlist his sympathy and impress upon him that
his interests were as much to be conserved as the interests of the Crown and of the
lumbermen, because no settler likes to see his farm bum or his belongings destroyed, as
sometimes happened. Now, the Act for the prevention of forest fires was a dead letter,
but having created this staff to try and put an end to the destruction of the forests by
fire, the fu^t thing that became necessary was to revive this Act, to let the people know
that there was such an Act in existence and what its conditions were, so that everybody
should know what was expected of him, and that in certain cases he would be guilty of
an infraction of the law. Therefore, we had the Forest Fires Act printed on large sheets
of cotton and in pamphlet form, and we sent hundreds of these posters and pamphlets
to the rangers with instructions that they were to post up the large postera at every
portage, on the rivers, on every road where people cross them, and in all conspicuous
places where people would have an opportunity of seeing them. In addition to that
they were instructed to distribute the pamphlet copies, to hand one to every person with
whom they came into contact, and, if necessary, to explain the provisions of the Act, to
point out its penalties and to make the people thoroughly and particularly acquainted
with it. I am glad to say that the Act is now an open book in the rear of this province.
Everybody knows the Fire Act and its provisions, and what it means, and the consequence
is that now there is nobody who can say : * I did not know that the Act was so and so.'
Then we instructed these rangers also to move about through the limit so as to
become acquainted with its topography, to become acquainted with the dangerous points,
to know where large bodies of timber were and to have a good general knowledge of
the limits. In connection with this I thought that it would be a most valuable thing
for the lumberman, while his limits were being guarded from fire, that he should be
able to avail himself of the services of a fire ranger at the same time to procure infor-
mation as to where the timber was situated, what sti-eams were convenient to it and all
information which would enable him to handle his limit in an economical manner. It
seemed to me to be right to combine the two duties as far as possible.
Then, we also instructed them in case of fire springing up as to what they were to
do. We gave them carte blanche to call in all the assistance they might think necessarr
for the purpose of extinguishing the fire and after a fire was extinguished they were
under instructions to report to the limit holder the cause of the fire, how much timber
was damaged and where the timber was situated, and to make a similar report to us,
the object being that the licensee could know where the damaged timber was so that he
might make preparations to cut it during the ensuing winter, and we had the same in-
formation.
Then, the question came up as to clothing the rangers with authority. Of course,
they would not be of any use if they had not some Government authority, and so, in
order to. bring them under the provisions of the Fire Act, we appointed them bush and
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY AS80CIA TION 85
fire rangers. Section 14^of the Act constitutes bush rangers ex-ojicio officers to look
after the enforcement of the Act, so that we appointed all these rangers — bush and fire
rangers and so made them officers to enforce the Act. Later on we found that rangers
sometimes complained that they were a long way from any magisterial authority and
that when they did find anybody setting a fire and caught him red-handed in the act
they had to take him 50 or 100 miles before they could get him before a magistrate. That
seemed to be a fault in the Act and we amended it so as to provide that by Order in
Council the Government can appoint bush rangers magistrates, and an officer is able to
appoint his assistant a constable under his command to assist him in arresting and
bringing to justice people when they break the Act. The constable can arrest a man
and bring him before the fire ranger immediately, the fire ranger can fine him, or pass
judgment and then ship him off if he does not pay the fine. That would have a good
effect if it were generally applied, but you must be careful as to the character of the
man to whom you entrust magisterial powers and the consequence is that we have
not felt able from the class of men we have had as ranger^ to appoint them as magistrates in
many instances, but if the lumbermen will give us a better class of men and recommend
them in any cases tu be appointed as magistrates, I have no doubt we will be able to
get the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to appoint them. Then, of course, we gave
them badges and all that sort of thing so as to constitute them regular officers of the
department. In another way we felt, in connection with our appointing them, that i^J
would have a beneficial effect upon settlers and others that they met for the reason that
the mere fact that they were Government officers under Government instructions would
impress the people with]whom^they came in contact.
Now, having provided for the'constitution of the service the next thing was as to
who should pay for it. The lumberman has, of course, a very much larger interest in the
timber — that is on the licensed lands — than has the Crown. The lumberman has the stum-
page value, the Crown only collects its dues ; nevertheless, at the same time, the Com-
missioner of Crown Lands at that time thought it would be a fair thing to di^^de the
cost between the lumberman and the Government, that each should bear half, not only
of the wages of the men but of the cost of enforcing the Act for the suppression of
forest fires. So it was arranged, and this has been the system ever since, that each
should pay half. For a long time this system was just one of practice! We, from year
to year, appointed the rangers and we asked the legislature to give us a vote to pay
them, but there was nothingjn the regulations of the Crown Lands Department, there
was nothing in the law, there were no regulations that created or constituted the service
in any way, because, as you understand, for a number of years it was an experiment.
Four or five years ago I suggested that it might be put on a statutory basis, and what
was formerly the practice of the department is now the law of the province. We have
power to appoint and pay and all [the necessary powers to enable us to handle this
service. We also provided that licensees should instruct their rangers to keep a diary
in which they would enter their movements from day to day and anything of interest
occurring on the limits, and that they should return these diaries at the end of the season
to the licensee and that he should return them to the department so that he and the depart-
ment might have full information. We expected the licensees to get from their men
such information as would enable them to see where the system was defective and make
suggestions as to how it should be amended. Each year, ever since the year 1885, we
have sent out circulars to the licensees asking them to. be good enough to tell us the
Digitized by
Google
96 CANADIAN F0RESSTR7 A8S0CIA TION
number of fires that have occurred on the limits, the amount of damage that has been
done and what the monetary loss has been, and we have invited them to make any sug-
gestions that they might have for the improvement of the service and each year we
have had replies from nearly all of the lumbermen and we are yet to receive from any
lumberman an objection to the sj^tem as it now prevails. The lumbermen all say that
the system is a good one, that they do not know how it could be amended and that it is
covering the ground it is intended to cover in the most admirable manner.
Just as a matter of interest I may trace to you the growth of the system. In the
year 1885, which was the first season that the system was in operation, we had 37 men
in the field at a cost of $7,911, half of which was afterwards refunded by the licensees.
That year the reports from the licensees stated that a number of small fires had been
extinguished, that the general eflfect of the rangers being in the field was good and that
an interest had been created on the part of settlers.
In 1886 the number of rangers employed was 45 and the cost $9,847, half of which
was borne by the .licensees. The reports that year said that the presence of rangers
had a good moral effect, that no trouble or friction had been experienced with the settlers,
that a number of men had been employed to suppress forest fires and that the Crown
Timber Agents were also active in looking after the people who were upon the limits.
In that year we extended the fire district. What is called the fire district was proclaimed
under authority of the Act and it only extended to Lake Nipissing, but in 1886 we pro-
claimed a second fire district which carried us through to the western boundary of the
province. In 1887 there were 55 rangers employed at a cost of $15,000, half of which
was borne by the licensees. The late Mr. Wm. Mack, of Ottawa, said to me at that time
that it was the dryest year he had seen in 42 years. He said that he had received great
benefit on his limits from the presence of the fire rangers. The reports show that the
staff was prompt and energetic and that active attempts had been made for the first time
to suppress bush fires, that the rangers had fought day and night with fire and called out
assistance, as many as 100 men in addition to the regular staff of rangers being employed
in extinguishing fires, that the settlers were found to co-operate fairly well with the
rangers, and that the licensees were supplied with information as to damaged timber
and its situation and thus were enabled to take out the timber. The licensees requested
in that year that all limit holders should be obliged to put rangei-s on their limits,
because, up to that time, the system wa<s not obligatory. It was only those licensees
that made application for rangers to be placed on their limits that had these rangers so
placed, but, now, the licensees said, very properly, that it sometimes happened that the
limit adjoining theirs had no rangers upon it, fire sprang up there and there was nobody
to look after it. Therefore, they really received no benefit from their own ranger s
because the fire actually was uncontrollable because not dealt with in its incipient stage
and they therefore asked that all limit holders should be obliged to put rangers on their
limits. Since then we have provided for that in the law, and now everybody has to put
rangers on his limits, unless we put them on, for which the limit holder bears half of the
expense.
In 1^87 the principal causes of fire were reported to be settlers clearing land and
setting out fires in dry time and high winds, river drivers making fires for cooking,
smudges, <fec., and not extinguishing them before leaving, f^arks from locomotives,
hunters, fishermen and explorers using fire carelessly and not extinguishing it when they
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 37
were done with it. In 1887 we tried the experiment for the first time of putting fire
rangers on the lands of the Cro^n. Before that, while we had obliged the licensees to
keep rangers on their limits, we had not put rangers on the lands of the Crown, but in
1887 we did put them on the lands of the Crown and their reports showed us the
wisdom of that course, because we found they had extinguished a number of fires close
to large bodies of pine timber which would inevitably have been destroyed had these
rangers not extinguished the fires. In that year there were 110 fires reported and the
quantity of timber reported damaged was 200,000,000 feet, but owing to the fact that
they were able to take it out in time the net loss of money was estimated to be about
170,000.
In 1888 the number of men was 70 and the total cost of the service $17,854. In
that year there was a heavy fire on the Petewawa and also a number of other fires
amounting altogether to 70 in various parts of the territory. The quantity of timber
reported as having been damaged was 160,000,000 feet, 15,000,000 feet of which it was
said would be a total loss. The cause of fire was stated to be carelessness of settlers in
clearing land.
In 1889 there were 75 rangers employed at a total cost of $15,468. In that year
there w^re reported only a few fires and it was said that all damaged timber would be cut
and that the service was very satisfactory. Now, something was said this morning by my
friend Mr. McCuaig about his experience in dealing with the Government in endeavouring
to suppress and prevent forest fires. We have legislation in respect of that in our
province. I do not know whether they have the same legislation in the province of
Quebec or not, but I wish to caU your attention to it here. There is an Act which
authorizes the appointment of fire guardians and for the better prevention of bush firea.
It was passed in 1889 and it provides that the council of a township may on the
petition of one-third of its ratepayers at its first meeting in any year appoint by by-law
not less than two resident freeholders for each polling subdivision to carry out the pro-
visions of the Act, the persons appointed to be known as fire guardians and to hold office
until the appointment of their successors. It provides that after the passing of this Act no
person shall * set out or set fire to any brush heap or other combustible material in any field,
clearance or place in such township where the same would be likely to spread, between
the 1st day of July and the 1st day of October in any year without first having obtained
leave in writing from one of the fire guardians.' The Act provides further :
* The obtaining of such leave or permission in writing of the proper fire guardian
shall not be pleaded or given in evidence in any action for negligently setting fire, or in
extenuation of, or in mitigation of damages ; but the absence of such leave or permission
shall, in such an action, be deemed prima Jacie evidence of negligence.'
Then it says further :
* It shall be the duty of the fire guardian appointed as aforesaid, on being requested
to grant leave and permission to set out fire, to examine the place at which it is inten-
ded to set out the fire and the adjoining lands, and the timber trees and other property
thereon, and to refuse such request, and decline to grant leave and permission if, in his
opinion, it would not be safe by reason of the danger of fire spreading therefrom or
otherwise.*
Digitized by
Google
88 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
The council of any township municipality is empowered to make provision for the
payment to the fire guardian for his services and to fix the penalty to be imposed upon
fire guardians and others refusing to perform or neglecting their duties under the law,
and further, that any person setting out a fire without permission is to be subject to a
penalty of $100. There is a very drastic Act if it is enforced by the municipalities, but
— of course, I speak without accurate knowledge — I do not think that very many of the
municipalities have passed the necessary by-law required by this Act. Subsequently
there was another Act passed strengthening this and providing that all people who
were liable to perform statute labour should turn out upon notice by the fire guardians
and in the event of there not being a su^cient number of people in the neighbourhood
to perform statute labour, they were to be in a position to employ men to do the work.
There is a provision to enable the townships to assist the Government in keeping down
forest fires.
In 1890 the number of rangers was 83 and the total cost $17,525. No fires were
reported in that year and there was no loss of timber.
In 1891 the number of rangers was 98 and the total cost $20,053. The report
said dry summer ; numerous fires both on the Crown and licensed lands ; 100,000 feet
damaged on licensed lands ; rangers located damaged timber and arranged for its cut-
ting ; estimated loss would be about $60,000; in addition to that quantity upon licensed
lands, there was damage upon the lands of the Crown to the amount of some 95,000,000
feet. Our rangers reported Vhei*e this damaged timber was, we had it estimated, sold
it, and the loss was reduced to a minimum. In the old days when we had no forest
rangers on the Crown lands enormous fires occurred. Anybody who has travelled in
the back regions knows that, and there being nobody to report them or say anything about
them, the timber went to waste and the province lost a large sum. Under the present
system we are able to estimate it promptly, and in this instance it was estimated pix)mptly
and sold and the lass was reduced.
In 1892 there were 86 men employed and the total cost was $18,362. This was
reported to be a very wet season and there were no forest fires. In 1893 there were 106
men and the total cost was $19,831. Seven fires were reported but no serious loss of
timber. In 1894 the number of rangers was 108 and the cost $26,276. There were
no fires in the eastern part of the province, but in the west, where there were no fire
rangers and where extensive explorations for minerals were going on, there were several
serious fires. There was a considerable quantity of pine damaged in the Rainy River
district, but at that time, as the market was in a very bad state, no effort was made to
take it out.
In 1895 the number of men employed was 117 and the total cost was $26,253.
This was reported to be a very dry season and there were some 46,500,000 feet of pine
damaged. Some pine timber in the township of Grant that belonged to the Crown was
also damaged. We estimated it, put it up for sale, and got the value. The reports that
year as to the causes of that fire, said settlers, hunters and camping parties, setting out
fires. At the end of 1895, a new departure was made in respect to the payment of the
rangers. Up to this time we paid the rangers and then rendered account to the licen-
sees for half the amount and got it back. It was rather a cumbersome system and a
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 89
proposition was made that the licensees should pay the rangers their proportion and that
we should pay our proportion.
In the year 1896, the first year under this system, the total number of rangers was
160 and the expense $47,719. That year, you see, the service went up both as to
cost and also as to the number of men. A few serious fires were reported, but none of
them attained large proportions. On the Crown lands three fires were reported near
Wahnapitae and Biscotasing. Sixty-one million feet of damaged timber were cut and
taken out. We issued a Royal Commission to inquire into the origion of the Biscota^s-
ing fire and although they went up on the ground and took evidence and made an efiFort
to find out the cause of the fire they were unable to bring it home to anybody. The
suggestion that was made .that year by the licensees was that we should increase the
number of rangers on the Crown domain as there was danger from the gold explorers.
That year we posted notices around the blocks of pine timber forbidding explorers and
surveyors to go into them.
In 1897 the number of rangers was 179 and the total cost $24,963, which was all
borne by the department. You will remember that from 1896 down, in order to get
at the full expenditure each year, you will have to double the figures I have given you,
because the figures I am giving you now are only the department's proportion, while the
licensees paid another amount. In 1897, which was reported to be a wet season, no
serious fires or loss of timber occurred. The rangers reported that there was greater
care exercised by settlers and explorers and altogether a better feeling was displayed.
In this year we issued a commission to report on the better preservation of the forests
of Ontario. It is impossible, owing to lack of time, to give a full summary of the valuable
report of this commission but it recommended, among other things, that lands which were
found not well suited for farming and situated at the heads of the principal streams
should be added to or made permanent Crown forest reserves, that all licensed and non-
licensed lands of the Crown where tourists, lumbermen, or prospectors are moving about
should be patrolled by fire rangers and these rangers should be controlled directly by
the Government, that fire notices in English, French and Indian should be posted along
the canoe routes and along the height of land.
In 1898, the number of rangers was 195 and the total cost $26,749. Very few
fires were reported in that year, and none of them important. In addition to the 1 95
rangers there were 1 1 on the lands of the Crown. In the Temiskaming and Rainy
River country rangers reported that they were constantly coming in contact with
explorers and hunters and warning them to be careful in the use of fire. We had no
fires on the Crown lands and no amendments to the Act suggested. In 1899, there
were 190 fire rangers and the total cost was $23,075. In addition to the 190 rangers
there were 12 rangers on the Crown lands. There were no fires in the licensed territory,
but in the townships of Bowell, Foy and Harty some damage was done and we sold the
damaged timber by public auction. The recommendations that year were that we
should extend the service of the rangers on the lands of the Crown. In 1900 the
. number of men was 185 and the total cost $26,985. There were 12 rangers on the
Crown lands. There was a bad fire that year in the township of Dana, and had it not
been for the presence of the rangers it would certainly have spread and done incalculable
damage as the pine is dense in that neighbourhood. The timber was sold at a good
Digitized by
Google
40 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
price. That year there were 90 fires reported to have been extinguished by the fire-
ranging staff. The suggestions were that we should increase the staff and make the
penalties more severe, that the forest rangers should be kept on duty all summer, and
that inspectors should be appointed to see that the fire rangers perform their duty.
In 1901, the number of men employed was 236 and the total cost $30,066. There
were ten men on the lands of the Crown. In the Rainy River and Thunder Bay districts,
the rainfall was fairly heavy, but in the east the summer was exceedingly dry. On licensed
lands very few fires occurred and the amount of timber damaged was small. The most
serious fire was one in the Peterboro district where 30,000 feet of timber were damaged
and the timber improvements destroyed. In this year a very serious fire occurred
early in July in the Temiskaming district which was said to have been caused by
smouldering brush heaps left by settlers. There being no pine in the region where the
fire occurred no damage to pine timber was done but a large quantity of spruce and soft
woods was destroyed and the houses, buildings, and effects of the settlers were destroyed
and great hardship was entailed upon the new settlers, so much so that the Government
were obliged to send up an officer to relieve the distress and appropriated money for
that purpose. We also sent up a quantity of grass seed to be sown in the burnt
territory. We also learned that year that fires had occurred in the country north of
the height of land and that a quantity of spruce timber had been very badly damaged,
but we were not able to get full particulars. We saw the necessity then for putting
some rangers across the height of land, and last year we had two or three rangers on the
Missinabie river and through that country keeping watch on those people who were
travelling there so as to caution and warn them to be careful in the use of fire. These
men posted up notices and distributed them to everybody they came in contact with.
In addition we corresponded with the Hudson's Bay Company and enlisted their
sympathy and we sent them copies of the Fire Act so that they might distribute them.
In the last year, 1902, the number of rangers was 234 and the cost of the service,
that is the Government's part of it, was $34,200. Forty fires were reported and
10,000,000 feet of pine was damaged. The net loss is estimated to be not less than
$10,000.
Now, I have told you about how we created the system, why we created it, its
nature and how it has worked out, and I have now detailed the reports we have had
from year to year showing the number of rangers and the expenditure. I do not know
that I need say anything more to you except that I think the service has served the
purpose for which it was established. We quite recognize that once a fire gets started
in a forest and assumes any proportions it is almost impossible to extinguish it, and if
you had an army of men after a foi-est fire gets under way you could not put it out, and
our great object was to educate the settlers, explorers and others who were setting fire
in the bush as to the necessity for using care and being very cautious in the disposition
of the fire after they had done with it, not, as is sometimes done, kick it over and
leave it to smoulder or light up as the case might be. It was one of our desires to
impress caution on those people, and to get settlers, explorers, hunters and others to
recognize that they had a duty to perform and that it was they should exercise great
care and caution. I think we perhaps have not been able to do that to the full extent,
but, I think, we have succeeded very largely in enlisting the sympathy of these people
and getting them to see the necessity of being careful in the use of fire. The services
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 41
of the rangers, I think, have been beneficial to the licensees in giving them knowledge
of their limits and generally putting them in possession of everything they may desire
to know. I am glad to be able to say that in no case have we had a single complaint
from a licensee as to the management of our fire-ranging system. We put ourselves in
the hands of these gentlemen when we said to them : You name the men, you pay
half the expense and we will pay half the expense. You must supervise them as well
as we do ; if you see anything wrong, anything you think ought to be amended or
strengthened, let us know and we will endeavour to amend or strengthen the regulations
or the legislation.
Mr. J. R. Booth, Ottawa — Mr. Chairman, I am sure I am very much pleased to
hear Mr. Aubrey White's exhaustive explanation of the working of the Act which was
passed some years ago for the better protection of timber, and I am sure that the lumber-
men, as far as I know, have nothing but the greatest of praisfe to give to the Govern-
ment, and especially to Mr. White, for the working of the department which is under
his supervision. We have always found that the Government have been ready and
willing to do their part manfully and to give the lumbermen all the assistance necessary
when they required it. The Government have wisely left the selection of these wood
rangers to the lumbermen. These wood rangers are appointed without any restrictions
from the Government, or without any recommendation from the Government, and they
are appointed by the lumbermen from the best men they have, the most careful and the
most trusted men. I feel sure that the working of the Act and the assistance that the
Government has given us have saved millions of dollars' worth of timber in this
country.
Of course, there are some fires still and there will be. ] t is impossible at some
times to account for them and when they get started it is almost impossible to stop them
but the only thing we can do is to surround them and take advantage of the weather
and fight them as the wind goes down, when the rain comes to beat them out, to be
there and to leave no stumps smouldering to start up again when the weather gets dry.
If there is anything that the lumbermen can do in the way of preventing fires I am sure
it is one of their most anxious desires. It is a question to us in dry times what we can
do. We dread every time that we hear of a storm or see smoke ; we are afraid that
some large pine forest is being destroyed and we immediately send out our men to
examine these places, to surround and watch them and to keep our force ready when-
ever occasion requires. In this way I may state that a great deal of timber has been
saved to the country. The Government has to enforce the regulations already enacted
in every possible way without any favours and I would recommend that settlers should
not be allowed to go in and settle in the part of the country which is not actually fit
for settlement, which might afford a livelihood for • one or two settlers but which is not
fit for large settlements. I do not think that settlers should be allowed to go into a
country where there is only land enough for one or two farms. It is no advantage to
them, they gain nothing by it, they may make out a miserable existence for a few years
but after that they will have learned that they have settled in the wrong place and they
will be obliged to move out to some other place. This is one of the things that
the Government should consider very carefull} . We do find, I am sorry to say, once in
a while, occasions where we think that there is a little slackness, not with the Govern-
ment, but with the officers they appoint, and with that exception I do not know that
Digitized by
Google
42 CANADIAN F0RE8TRY ASSOCIA TION
there is anything I can recommend to facilitate the working of the regulations for the
protection of forests. I am very pleased to hear Mr. Whitens exhaustive explanation of
the working of the Act, and I am sure that the Government must feel that the amount
of timber that has been saved has recompensed them many times over for the cost that
has been incurred. I hope with our assistance that the good work may continue of
prote<jting one of the greatest assets we have in this country.
Mr. Hiram Robinson — I would like to confirm what Mr. Booth has already said.
There can be no doubt at all in the mind of any one who knows anything about the country
that an immense amount of money has been saved by the Fire Act as it has
been enforced by the Government, and I think the very fact that we have the Deputy
Minister of Crown Lands here amongst us to-day is proof of the interest that is being
taken in this very important matter of the preservation of the forests. In this I speak
not alone of the interest of the lumbermen ; I think that the work goes far beyond the
interests of the lumbermen. The lumbermen's interests are only the interests of the
whole country, of the farmers, manufacturers and commercial men of Canada. The
protection of our pine and spruce timber should be with us a great object now, and it
goes still farther than that. The protection of the whole of our forests, whether the
forests are under license to lumbermen or not, should be a consideration of first
importance. The magnificent forests that we have in this country shoidd be protected.
It is lamentable to one interested in the preservation of our forest wealth, when
travelling by rail, or water, or carriage, to observe the terrible destruction that has gone
on. Our beautiful forests have disappeared to a large extent, and this is not due to the
axe. The axe takes, cert-ainly, a large amount of timber but the destruction is wi-ought
by fire running over the whole country, not through the lumbermen, but through the
settlers, pot hunters and others who are careless about fires. I think the Governments
are beginning to realize that forest protection is a work which commends itself to the
people and I think all will agree with me in saying that they cannot do too much nor
can the people in general do too much in supporting Governments in all measures
calculated to protect our great forests. After a fire passes over you know how long it
takes to re-establish the forests ; certainly, it cannot be accomplished in the lifetime of
a great many of us who are here to-day. I am sure that not within the lifetime of our
president, or myself, can this take place, but the young people amongst us are growing
up and they will have a great interest in what we do to further the protection of the
forests. I say therefore that we should put forth our best efforts in that direction We
are deeply interested in the report which has been presented by the Deputy Commissioner
of Crown Lands for Ontario. I endorse what Mr. Booth has said, but I would like to
emphasize with all the power I have not only the importance of planting and growing
trees but the necessity of protecting what we have, thereby establishing a source of
revenue and of wealth for our country in the future. There is nothing more important
than the forests of our country. Next to these are our fisheries and the like. It has
been said that the great North-west has been depleted of that noble animal the buffalo.
The buffalo have gone. It is true they have gone off the face of America but to-day we
have something to take their place ; we have settlers coming upon the plains where these
buffalo ran wild and we are getting the returns, but let the forests be swept off and what
have we left ? It is an important question and I am very glad to be present at this
meeting to consider it. I hope greater interest will be taken in this Association than
has yet been manifested by the people at large. We have an able secretary and
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 43
president and other officers who are doing so much for this Association in bringing the
matter of forestry and fires in the forests before the people. It is true that the
Government have helped this Association in many ways in distributing literature for it
and giving it assistance which of course is what is right, and we have to thank them for
the great interest they have taken. I myself feel grateful for what is being done by
this Association.
Mr. Stewart — Mr. Chairman, I do not wish to speak on this subject as I am here
to listen, but I cannot help saying a word on one subject that I think the Grovernments
of the Provinces and of the Dominion should take up that has not been taken up suffici-
ently before, and it is, the exploration of the country with a view of ascertaining
what lands should be open for settlement and what should be kept in forest and for the
production of timber. I think this is one of the most important subjects that could
engage the attention of the provinces and of the Dominion as well, for the Dominion has
a large extent of country which is wooded. There is a gentleman here and with your
permission, Mr. President, I would like to hear him say a few words. We have this
morning had the announcement that a distinguished Canadian would lecture to us to-
night, who occupies a very important position in one of the greatest universities in
America, namely. Harvard. We have also with us a Canadian who is a forester of
the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York, Mr. Knechtel, and
I would like very much and I am sure you would all be glad to hear Mr. Knechtel if he
would be good enough to say a few words.
Mr. Abraham Knechtel, Forester to the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of
the State of New York. — Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to attend this meet-
ing of the Canadian Forestry Association. Although my name would imply that I am
a German, 1 am in fact a Canadian. . J was born in Huron County, my mother is still
hving there, my father went into that county and settled at Brussels at a time when
the whole country was a forest. It was there that I received my first instruction in
forestry as I had to help ray father clear his land and a great task it was. I remember
how people used to look upon the forest as their enemy. It was hard to clear and the
bl€ick walnut was especially hard to burn. Now, I have been very much interested in
the two papers I hn-ve heard since dinner on forest fires and I am very glad to hear the
patrol system of Canada so ably and so fully discussed. In New York State we have
not a patrol system. We have there a chief fire warden, appointed by the Commission,
who has his office at Albany, and we have in each town where the State has forest
lands a fire warden. This town fire warden establishes districts and appoints district
fire wardens. When a fire occurs it is the town fire warden's business, or the district
fire warden's business, to get out and fight the fire and to warn out his neighbours. The
town fire warden, I believe, receives pay for the time he is at work at the rate of $2.50
a day and the district fife warden has the same pay. Now, the town pays half this
money and the State half, and the chief fire warden — in fact all the fire wardens — post
fire notices and educate the people as well as they can as to how to prevent fires. One
point has struck me forcibly in the discussion of these papers. There seems to be a
difference of opinion between the authorities of New York State and those of the
Dominion of Canada in regard to the time when the settlers should be allowed to burn
their fallows. I believe that Mr. White stated that fires must not be set between the
1st of July and the 1st of October.
Digitized by
Google
44 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Mr. White — That is in municipalities where the particular Act to which I refer is
in force. There is no prohibition in the general law. They require to use extra care
between the 1st of May and the Ist of November, but the special Act which applies to
municipalities says between the Ist of July and the 1st of November. In the general
Act it is between the 1st of May and the 1st of November.
Mr. Knechtel — That is the time I understand that fires shall not be set out 1
Mr. Whit^ — No, no, but they must get a permit from the proper officer.
Mr. Knechtel — Then fires may be set ?
Mr. White — Fire wardens are appointed in each township, and people desiring to
set fires must notify these fire wardens and get permission to set fire and clear their
fallows.
Mr. Knechtel — I read from the New York State law as follows : —
* Fires to Clear Land. — Fallows, stumps, logs or fallen timber shall not be burned
in the territory hereinafter described, from April first to June tenth, both inclusive, or
from September first to November tenth, both inclusive. From June eleventh to August
thirty-first, both inclusive, such fires may be set therein if written permission of the fire
warden or district fire warden of the town or district in which the fire is set has been
first obtained.'
So that in that respect it would seem that the law differs from yours.
Mr. White — Well, you have to get permission there, too, just the same as you
have to get permission under our law where the Act is in force in the municipalities.
Mr. Knechtel — I understand, but it seems to me that the laws conflict in this
respect that in New York State fires may be set from June 10 until September 1.
Mr. South WORTH — They can set out fires on the other dates by your permission ?
Mr. Knechtel — They must have permission at any time to set fires. I shall read
the law again :
" Fires to Clear Land. — Fallows, stumps, logs or fallen timber shall not be burned
in the territory hereinafter described from April first to June tenth, both inclusive
Mr. South worth — That is without permission 1
Mr. Knechtel — With permission.
* From June eleventh to August thirty-first, both inclusive, such fires may be set
therein if written permission of the fire warden or district fire warden of the town or
district in which the fire is set has been first obtained.'
Mr. SouTHwoRTH — In the spring and fall they cannot be set at all ?
Mr. Knechtel — They must not be set at all.
Mr. SoUTHWORTH — That differs from our law.
Digitized by
Google
CAN A DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 45
Mr. Kne'Chtel — Now, I presume that the reason for our law is that in the spring
of the year the leaves are dry ; the green leaves are not on the hardwoods and the soft
woods or conifers are as easily burned then as in the summer time. I remember last
spring when we were making a plantation at Saranac Lake, a little after the train passed
by on the railway I noticed smoke and two men were sent to see if they could extin-
guish the fire. They called for some help. We had sixty men planting trees and we
immediately took the whole force up there and put out the fire, but not until it had
burned over fully an acre of ground. Now, our system, although, perhaps, it may not
be as good a system as the patrol system, has worked very well. I am inclined to think
the patrol system is an exceedingly good one and I think your law has been framed with
exceedingly good judgment ; yet, we have been successfid in reducing the fires very
much. In 1902, as shown by the reports of the town fire wardens, the total area to
which it was applied was 21,356 acres, three-quarters of which, or thereabouts, consisted
of waste land on which there was no standing timber of merchantable value. The
actual area of forest land overrun by fire was 4,345 acres, of which only 458 acres
belonged to the forest reserve. The total loss on this standing timber amounted in the
aggregate to $9,150. I regret that I have not the figures for former years, but I am
sure that the area burned over has been reduced since our fire warden system has been
established, five or six times.
Prof. Macoun — There are three or four points in this matter of fire guarding that
are worth thinking about, and one is just what has been brought forward by this
gentleman. He says that in New York State they prohibit fires in the early spring.
It is sound wisdom. We all know that on a hot day in spring the slightest fire will
burst into flame and run over the country in no time, and again the same in the autumn
when the leaves come off. That is certain. Now, the question is if we are not discussing
two distinct parts of the subject. When we speak of the timber always, here in Canada,
we talk of the lumbering limits, we talk of the northern parts, not of the parts in which
the settlements are. Hence your law is more applicable to our farming communities.
I do not mean to say that yours is not a better law than ours, because it prohibits in
spring and autumn the setting of fires, which is sound wisdom, and it only allows a man
to set out a fire in the summer time when it is the least liable to run and hence more
safe. But, I leave that because you can all see what it means. There is another point ;
in the discussion this morning the matter was brought up that the Parry Sound railway
was one of the roads that was run through a timber country and caused no loss, and the
reason was given. When you have heard Mr. White's statement in connection with
what the rangers are doing you can see at once why. When they were putting the
railway through the country the fire rangers of the Government and of the lumbermen
controlled the railway authorities in that way, they prevented the railway employees
from being careless in regard to fire, and the result was perfect safety. Hence, there is
no use in talking about it, because, when a railway runs through the country there is
going to be enormous loss if the railway authorities are not compelled by the Govern-
ment to look after their own lands and to control the actions of their men. You heard,
this morning Mr. Joly say that in twelve miles of their forest, in Quebec, they had two
gangs of men patrolling the railway after every train had passed across the forest.
After every ti*ain passes over a gang is set out to put out any fires that are started in
their incipient stage. We men who are not engaged in lumbenng or railway business
say that it is the bounden duty of the Government to punish the railways for starting
Digitized by
Google
46 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
fires. I have been on the lines of railways in this country and I will mention one
instance in particular where the section men would not put out a fire, and I and my
men had to turn out and put it out. The section men said they were not required to do
it. If it had been required of them we would not have had to do it. Every one of us
who has travelled knows that it is the railways that are destroying the country. The
Government know that. I will give one instance showing how destruction can be done
by men who are irresponsible.' I generally get ahead of the railways, and in 1697 I
was at the Crowds Nest Pass. Every day of the year a tremendous wind blows out of that
pass to the prairie and on towards Fort McLeod. The men engaged in the construction
had cut the right of way through, and an immense amount of material which had been
removed was piled up. One of the foremen went and started a fire at the outer entrance
of the gap. I said, you must not do such a thing, because there is going to be a wind
this morning that will burn up the whole country, and if you start a fire you will be
punished. He said there is only $200 fine ; that is all. The fine is f 200. Well, I said,
you are doing it and I will inform on you. He started the fire between 9.30 a.m. and
10 o'clock. I came out and passed in a wagon about an hour after, and for a quarter
of a mile we had to force our way through fire. That fire extended over an area of 20
miles outside of the Crow's Nest Pass and burned for two days. I met the police that
same day and I informed them, and I heard that the man who started the fire paid the
$200 fine and said : What is that ? I saved a pile of money by it. These irresponsible
men do not care. But it is our duty to impress upon the railways the necessity of
making the section men look after the fires. There is not a section man in the country
that could not patrol the roads. I spent three months, three years ago, in Algonquin
Park ; I went through that park from one end to the other and there were no fires. I
remember upon one occasion I saw a man poking his head through the bushes. I said
to one of my men : I have no doubt that is a poacher. No, my man said, that is one of
the fire guardians, and he is just looking down the lake to see if there is any smoke in
sight. Algonquin Park is patrolled by the rangers of the Ontario Government and the
rangers of the lumbermen, and the result is perfect safety. Only one little fire took
place that year and they were rushing to it from every quarter, and they put it out in
no time. Efficiency comes from supervision and the supervision must be perfect. The
supervision of the railways extending through our mountains and forests must be
absolutely perfect or there is no safety, and we may just as well make up our minds to
that. We know now that there can be safety. There is one property down in Quebec
that is safe, because the owner looks after it himself in a very efficient way. There is
another property that belongs to the Ontario Government on the line of the Parry
Sound railway. I have known Mr. Booth well for many years, but it is not his business
to look after the road. If it is made his business and the business of the Ontario
Government, and the lumbermen generally, to patrol the whole country perfect safety
results. Some of us get passes from the railways and others do not, and of course when
a man is getting passes from the railway it is not safe for him to talk the way I am
doing, because if he does he will not get a pass. That is the trouble, but it is our dutv,
who do not get passes, to come out squarely and say that the railways are destroying the
country, and that the Government is winking at it and will not have the thing stopped.
Mr. JoLY DE LoiBiNifeRE. — If I may be permitted to add a few words to those just
uttered by Prof. Macoun, I would say that I am one of those gentlemen here, and I
daresay there are a good many, who have not the privilege of receiving railway passes,
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 47
and, therefore, I find myself in the happy position of being able to speak out my mind
freely even if it is against a Government railway. I take it that a government railway
such as the Intercolonial railway should be one of the very first institutions in this
country to give an example as to how protective measures should be carried out along
the railway lines. If there is any damage or danger they should be among the first,
unless gross negligence is shown on the part of the limit holder, or unless proof is made
that the fires were not set by their engines, to acknowledge their responsibility in the
matter. I wish to put before you, gentlemen, the position in which the unfortunate
property owners are where railways are passing, and in order to do this I will give an
instance that occurred with us last year. It was during a drought that happened in
May, and which continued until about the beginning of June, when the rains began to
come down. I was at our mills, some distance off, when I received a telegram stating
that a serious fire had started on the line of the Intercolonial railway, and to come as
quickly as possible. I was about twenty miles off and I had to make a detour and I got to
the scene of the fire about midnight. I found that the fire was then under control.
Four or five acres of timber had been burned, stumps and dead trees were still flaming,
but the fire was under control. Subsequently, I may say, the railway section men
belonging to the Government gave efficient aid, together with the men I had patrolling,
and others sent over and paid out of my pocket from the nearest village. Shortly after-
wards I had this tract of land examined by an expert and made up a bill of damages
which did not amount to very much, but it was more for the principle of the thing that
I wished to have recognized, and I asked that an investigation should be made as to the
cause of the fire. The Government granted an investigation, a commissioner was sent
up, fixed a day for holding the investigation and asked me to bring my evidence on
that day, which I did. I proved that I had men on the line that day patrolling that
portion of the road. I proved that such and such an engine set fire in the course of
six miles to the extent that five incipient fires began along the right of way working
their way into the forests ; that my men put out four and that by the time they had ex-
tinguished these the fifth had got such headway that with the half dozen men who were
there it was impossible for them to cope with it and it was necessary for them to call
for further aid. I proved that all the fires had occurred on the right of way and there-
fore, the evidence was perfectly clear that this particular engine had set the fire. Well,
the Government in a case of that kind, far from acknowledging its responsibility, sent
me an answer in a short time stating that as no proof had been made as to the origin of
the fire, that such and such an engine dropped the spark that caused that fire, and that
as the Government had proved that all engines that went to Point L^vis on such and
ftuch a day had their fire screens in perfect order there was no redress for me. Now, as
to the inadequate condition of most of these engines we all know that at a central
point — Point L^vis in this instance — it is a mere form which is gone through. Every
engine is supposed to be reported upon before leaving for Montreal as to the condition of
its fire box, fire screens, and so on. An official is supposed to Took at the fire box and
to see that the meshes of the screen are of the proper size, but as a matter of fact this
is not done, and if it is not done by a Government railway, and done efficiently, I am
quite sure there is very much less chance of its being done by a private corporation. I
think that some suggestions should be brought before the Government on this question.
I have thought over the matter seriously and I think that locomotives leaving a given
centre and about to traverse forest lands should not be left to the inspection of the rail-
way authorities, and it should not be left for them to say whether the engines are in
Digitized by
Google
48 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
proper condition or not. I think that the .Government should appoint a special man at
each point of departure, where the engines are going to traverse forest lands, to make
a careful examination of the engines and see that the fire boxes and screens are in
order. We all know that it is from the sparks that fires originate when the engines are
going up grades, and so on. If adequate measures were taken in the matter of fire
screens nine-tenths of the fires that happen would not take place. No precautionary
measures are taken to see that the equipment of locomotives is such as to minimize the
danger from sparks. I think it is the duty of this Association to take this matter up
very seriously, because if a locomotive sets a fire it comes from the smoke stack and not
from the fire box, and it is a matter which should be most carefully looked into.
Mr. Stewart — I just wish to say one word on the subject of railway fires in the
country. There is no question at all that in a great many cases they do set fire ; that
is if the sparks come out and light in the forest when it is dry. I have had a great
many conferences with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in Montreal and
also with their agents in the West and the General Manager has telegraphed to his
superintendents that they must enforce the Act. Most of the Acts of the different pro-
vinces provide that engines must be equipped with fire screens, the result is that this
last season the Crown Timber agent in the railway belt of British Columbia informs me
that they had no trouble in that regard and that in the railway belt we had no fires
although it was one of the dryest seasons in British Columbia while outside the railway
belt there were a great many fires. There is no reason why the railway company should '
not join with the Government and assist in keeping down fires. I think that the
officers of the Government and the railway authorities should get together and work for
that purpose. In regard to examining fire screens we talked over that too. They may
have a fire screen which is all right at the point of starting but when they come to a
grade and the engine gets stopped they raise that screen until they get through and
then put it on again. This last season I have had the C. P. R. and the Canadian
Northern furnished with fire notices all through that country for the guidance of section
men, and the result is that all along the line these notices were posted up and they had
instructions through the agents to observe the regulations under the provisions of the
Fire Act. I know the result has been that there were very few fires.
Mr. CnowN — I am a Methodist and as you are aware one of the doctrines of the
Methodists is that you should go on to perfection. We have had a most interesting
account by Mr. W^hite of the working of the system in the province of Ontario. The
system, I think, is very nearly right, but I would like to make one or two suggestions
which I think might help to make it a little more perfect and I think this Association
might assist. I would like to suggest that we bring pressure upon the Governmentv
looking to the employment of a larger number of fire rangers on the Crown lands-^
Those who have travelled through the Crown lands and especially those who have talked
with men from the Geological Survey who have travelled through them, will be impressed
with the necessity for a larger number of rangers on the Crown lands. Another point.
is more important and that is the necessity for some manner of controlling the force of
rangers. The present system is not perfect. It would seem that if a man is upon the
staff of fire rangers and paid for his services care should be taken to see that he is per-
forming his duty and that he is a good man. As far as my information goes there are a
great many fire rangers who are not competent men and who are appointed for other
Digitized by
Google
The Rkd ok Norway Pfnk (Pinus rcBinom).
[p. 48]
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 48
reasons than that of being competent fire rangers. Of course, Mr. Booth, for instance,
is not personally acqufdnted with his rangers and he gives it out to some of his
foremen to appoint the rangers, and anybody who has conversed with men from the
Geological Survey and other men who have travelled through the northern parts of the
country knows the way in which the fire ranging is done. I recollect hearing the story
of a man who was not outside of his awn lot for six weeks and yet he was drawing pay
all that time for fire ranging. There should be some other system than the mere look-
ing at the diary of the ranger by which some supervision of these men could be had
while they are working. Then, another point I wish to speak of has suggested to me
that Presbyterians believe in the doctrine of final perseverance. There is a clause in
the report we heard this morning regarding the advisability of impressing upon the dif-
ferent Governments the necessity for controlling the sporadic immigration that is going
into the settlements, one, two, or three going upon lands that are not suited to agricul-
ture causing great damage by fire there. We have a clause in the report of the
directors this morning which reads : —
* In accordance with the instructions contained in the resolution passed at the last
annual meeting on the question of a proper division between agricultural and non-agri-
cultural lands, a copy of the resolution was sent to the Government of each of the pro-
vinces, and also to the Dominion Government, and replies were received thanking the
Association for the suggestions offered.'
We should not be content with the mere reception of the report, but we should
follow this up by pressing on the different Governments the necessity for controlling
settlement as far as possible upon non-agricultural lands, and that in advance of all set-
tlements, there should be rangers sent out who should, in a rough way, go over the
ground and suggest the territory for the surveyors to lay out. I would impress upon the
committee of resolutions, that we draft another resolution and forward it to the different
Governments pressing this matter upon them.
Mr. SouTHWORTH — Mr. Chairman, we have, I am sure, all been very much inter-
ested in the very clear exposition of the history and results of the fire ranging system of
Ontario, from Mr. White, who is really the originator of the present system. We have
also learned, and it was news to me until a few days ago, of the provision that has been
made for controlling fires in the municipalities. There is what we call the Ontario fire
ranging system, by which the rangers are appointed jointly by the lumbermen and the
Grovemment, and by which rangers are employed on the Crown lands, and in this way
we have a fairly good system of fire protection. In the ordinary municipalities, machinery
is provided by which municipalities can appoint officers with power practically to control
the fire protection system there. But there is another phase of this subject that legis-
lation does not seem yet to have reached. I refer to the districts now being settled.
In many townships, as we know, there is a considerable length of time before any muni-
cipal machinery is provided.
A fire took place in 1901 in the Temiskaming country at a time when there was
not an organized municipality in the whole district. The municipality had not power
to appoint guardians, as there was no municipality in existence. Would it not be
advisable to provide machinery that would enforce the provisions of the Fire Act in
unorganized territory ? It seems to me that this is a matter that this Association might
4
Digitized by
Google
60 CAN A DIAN FORESTRY ASSOC! A TION
very wisely take up, and I think it would be advisable for the Government to appoint
or select officers in the various sections of the new districts now being settled, from
whom permission should be obtained before settlers are allowed to set out fires, as in the
case of an organized municipality. I am aware that that would give rise to the criticism
that it would mean more Government offioers, but there are some immigration agents
and others who might be employed for the purpose. There is no way at present of con-
trolling the manner in which settlers should obtain permission to set their fires, and I
may say that I am inclined to think that the New York State system is possibly in
advance of our own. The law describes certain seasons when there shall be no fires set
out at all, and during the rest of the year persons desiring to set fires must get a permit,
and in a State like New York, where there are organized municipalities everywhere,
that can safely be done, but in our country where it is being settled in different parts,
there is no such machinery, and it might be well to provide machinery for that purpose.
Mr. Stewart — A good deal has been said about the system of Ontario and we
have heard something of the system in Quebec of appointing forest fire rangers. I
want to say a word or two regarding the supervision of these rangers. In framing
some rules foi: the Dominion some few years ago I had a pretty broad hand and I had
before me the Fire Acts of Quebec, Ontario and other provinces, and I worked out a
system that is giving good service in the West. As I said this morning, that which
perhaps would be suitable in one district would not be suitable in another. There are
certain officers of the Government, Crown Timber agents in the timber districts. We put
the fire rangers under these men ; they have to certify to their accounts, they have to
instruct them when to go out, and when to return. GeneraUy on the Pacific coast these
men are out early in the spring, and then during the summer when the trees are in full
leaf they are very seldom out at all. They are withdrawn, and then sent out again in
the fall if necessary. If it is not necessary, if it happens to be a very wet season, they
are not called out at all. If it is a dry season we not only call them out, but the
rangers themselves have authority in the case of fire to employ assistance and the
accounts are paid when they are certified to by the supervising officer. That system has
worked well. In making out the accounts how are these men paid ? There is an assess-
ment and the assessment is made in this way : The country is divided into a certain
number of districts and each ranger is assigned to a certain district. In that country
there are many times more unlicensed lands than there are lands under license. We
employ the rangers. If there is a large number of lumbermen in the district
we try to get those rangers that would be satisfactory to the lumbermen as well,
but the Government have charge of them and they make an assessment based on the
area of the timbered land in which the district is situated, whether it is really
merchantable timber or not because we like to preserve the young growth as well. We
take the whole timber area, then we take the quantity that is licensed, then we take
the account for a particular ranger for his services there that year, a certain amount is
found to be the cost per acre, the government pay the whole of it as regards the
unlicensed lands and pay one-half on the licensed territories and it is assessed against
the land. That system has worked well there. It might not work well here. I think,
moreover, that the supervision is one feature I would not like to have altered. I know
it is a check because no accounts are paid until the supervising officer assents to them.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION gl
The CHAiRMAN^Mr. McCuaig ^aid something on the subject of forest fires, but, of
course, there has been new matter introduced into the discussion. Is there anything
more he could say on the subject ; if not, we will ask Mr. Cormier to address us.
Mr. McCuAiG— There is nothing to add to what I said this morning, perhaps. I
said that the system we have in Quebec did not differ very much from that which
obtains in Ontario. We appoint our fire rangers, the nomination is left largely with
the lumbermen who, we consider, are equally interested with the Government, and even
more so. We receive the nomination of these men from the lumbermen on the condition
that they are qualified men. These recommendations are sent to the department for
appointment so that a fire ranger after he is appointed once is always a fire ranger.
He is eligible for duty at any time just the same as a culler. He goes to work and does
his work with the approval of the license holder and the superintendent. He has to
report to us at the end of every month. I understand that in the province of Ontario
they lose sight largely of their fire rangers at the beginning of the season and that they
do not report until the end of the year. It is not so with us, they have to report every
month. More than that, these reports have to be made out in duplicate and they are
required to swear to the accuracy of the statements they submit. No man is appointed
unless he is qualified for the work from every point of view. It is true that he may be
qualified to-day and in four or five years from now contract some habit that will unfit
him. I have had to dismiss several fire rangers because they were unfit and I have
found some of the license holders who have not been willing to take this course. The
lumberman who has such extensive business interests appoints a man in whpm he has
confidence to attend to these matters for him. He looks to his agents to see that the
law has been carried out, and he does his best, but experience shows that you must have
efficient supervision in order to control the fire rangers. They are not all angels.
There are good men amongst them, but unfortunately we find some of them who are not
fitted for the work. I impress upon license holders that we require 'the best men
/ available and I also impress upon the men that their duty must be done without fear
favour or affection. I was approached by a man who wanted to be appointed a fire ranger
and when I heard what his idea of the duties of a fire ranger was I told him that he
might as well go home because he would never fill the bill. If there is any man who
should not be a drone it is the fire ranger. He must always be on the alert. Owing to
the dryness of certain seasons of the year the patrol cannot always be made and the
rangers are allowed some liberty but they are always expected to be on duty. They
must also be impressed with the necessity of dealing as gently and kindly as possible
with the settler. They must come into contact with the settler. Their instructions
are to be careful and not use harsh means towards the settler, but they must make the
settler aware of the damage caused by fire and impress upon him the necessity of beinj?
careful about the use of fire. Most of the firos that have amounted to anything have
come from the settlers because new settlers are allowed to go upon land which thev
should never have been allowed to occupy. No man should be allowed to go and settle
on a section because there is the making of one or two good farms in that locality. He
should not \te allowed to go there at all. He is only endangering valuable property by
his going there. I am sorry that we have not a sufficient number of fire rangers in the
province of Quebec. Mr. Cormier has charge of the lower part of the province, and it
is something surprising how much we have been able to do with the handful of men we
4i
Digitized by
Google
52 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
have. It is true that the lumbermen owning limits appoint special rangers and that
the Government co-operates with th^m. These special rangers are completely under the
control of the license holder, he can put them out and take them in, but they are clothed
with authority and in fact given magisterial powers. If they meet any man in tiie
forest they are supposed to ask who he is, what his business is, and these people are
supposed to give an answer to what they are asked. The rangers are supposed to know
what the traveller's business is and to follow him up and keep in touch with him. We
have an army of men travelling through the licensed limits, hunters, miners, wayfarers,
and the fire ranger is continually meeting these men. They are a source of danger.
We cannot stop it, the only thing we can do is to keep our fire rangers alert and active.
I am glad to be here because there are many lessons which have been given which I
shall be glad to make mention of in making out my annual report. I am glad that we
are all interested in forestry either from the commercial, the sanitary or the sportsman's
point of view. In the province of Quebec we shall have a new country opened up in
the north which will increase enormously the interest in the work of protecting our
forests. The Quebec Government appointed a Commission two years ago to take into
consideration many of the questions that we are considering here to-day. The recom-
mendations of this Commission I expect will come into the department before long.
Mr. N. E. Cormier, Superintendent of Forest Rangers for the Province of Quebec,
Aylmer. — Mr. Chairman, the question brought up, I think, has been very ably dis-
cussed by the gentlemen who have spoken this afternoon. However, I may be able to
tell you something of the conditions in the particular province which I represent. The
provisions of the Act regulating the forest protection service in 1893 were very limited.
In that year the Hon. Mr. Flynn, who was then Commissioner of Lands, Mines and
Forests, requested me to organize what we call No. 1 fire district according to the Act.
I went down, travelled through a very large district and divided that immense territory
which my colleague has charge of into 32 districts, requiring a fire ranger for each dis-
trict. In the province we do not put fire rangere on one particular limit, as a fire
ranger may have charge of two limits. But, the fire ranger of one district must join
the fire ranger of another district and discuss the best method to be adopted in order to
prevent fires in the summer time. In 1893 I called a meeting of the lumbermen here
which was largely attended, and after a discussion it was agreed that the taxation, which
was then ten and a half cents per square mile, should be raised to seventeen cents per
square mile if the Government would give as much more, which would make the appro-
priation for the service thirty-five cents per square mile. The lumbermen agreed, and
the department did so. In the spring of 1894 we established fire district No. 1. It
was well understood at that meeting that the fire protection service in district No. 1
should be non-political. I think it was so at the time of its establishment, and I think
it is so to-day. It \^as agreed that the lumbermen should make the selection of the fire
rangers because the limit holder has more interest than the government in protecting
the timber, although we must all admit that the government must help the lumberman
to protect his immense interests. In 1894 the lumbermen made their selections, they
were approved by the department, and on being approved the rangers were vested with
authority. They were authorized to arrest anybody found breaking the law, to hold
court in the bush, to appoint constables, to bring a man who set a fire before them for
trial in the bush. There is a great deal to be said upon the question of the prevention
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 53
of forest fires, and under some circumstances it is rather a hard task. I have studied
this subject for several years, and the more I study it the more I learn. I have learned
a great deal to-day from the very able remarks that have been made on the question of
forest protective service. The greatest danger is from settlers, the next from hunters,
and the next from explorers. Under our mining law an explorer must get a permit, and
our fire rangers are instructed to see that every explorer is provided with this permit.
I have here a book of instructions to the fire rangers which I shall be glad to place in
the hands of any gentlemen who may wish to see it. We have ejected several people
who have not had permits to come in. The tourist is a source of danger as well as the
sportsman, and the only way to, prevent forest fires, I believe, is this : We have to go
round and see the settlers, take them into your confidence, explain the law to them,
and tell them the danger of setting fire and that they may be compelled to pay a fine
for breaking the law or go to prison. You must take them into your confidence and
then there will be no further trouble with them. Last year we had three cases but I
went into the locality in which these settlers were and they promised that they would
not set fire again. District No. 2 extends from the east bank of the Gatineau river to
Lake St John, while the district of Mr. McCuaig is fi*ora the west bank of the river to
the height of land. In my district we have about 20,000 square miles. The total area
of the province under license is 60,862 square miles, as announced in the House by the
Prime Minister the other day. I understand that my colleague has 32 fire rangers
under his control. I have 22 and I expect to get the number up to 30. Below Lake
St. John I think we have about half a dozen. That portion of the province is not
organized yet.
I heard the gentleman from New York State speaking about requiring per-
mission to set fire. I do not see why this is wanted. In Quebec province you cannot
aet fire in district No. 1 between the Ist of May and the 15 th of September, and in No. 2
district between the 15th June and the 15th September. The minister cannot give a
permit, because it is in the statute. We cannot give a permit, and I think it is the right
way. During the past year we had three settlers who set fire in July and August.
The superintendents have control of the fire rangers, guided by the license holder
who has recommended them, and when we find by their reports that they are not doing
their duty, we call them to account. Their reports must be made monthly and sworn to
before a Commissioner or a Justice of the Peace, but in the fall of the year when they
come in they must have duplicate copies and these must be sworn to before the proper
authority. When we find out that they have not done their duty we communicate with
the lumberman who has appointed them and they take the matter up. I have nothing
to say against the lumbermen because the lumbermen have done the best they could for
the protection of their property, only that we should have more fire rangers. It is a
question of more money, and it is a question whether the Government will be content
with an increase in the ta-x.
In regard to municipal machinery we have not that in our province. I have not
much confidence in it unless the council can act at once. If the council has to pass a
by-law and get a lot of ratepayers to sign the petition it takes too long, but if the
municipality had power to appoint a man and then submit the appointment to the
department, and the department approved of the appointee and vested hira with suffic-
ient authority it might be all right.
Digitized by
Google
54 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
We also issue a book of instructions to the license holders' agents, and we require
them to issue orders to their foremen to have the Fire Act read say every Monday
morning so that none can be in ignorance. The fire law is read on the drives every
Monday morning to the men who make fire or who smoke so that they may not be in
ignorance. I am very much pleased with the invitation given to me yesterday by Mr.
Campbell to assist at this forestry convention. I can assure you that if I can do any-
thing to promote the success of the meeting I shall be ready at all times. The Associ-
ation have a great deal to do. They have to deal with a very valuable asset of the
Dominion of Canada, and from their deliberations good results must inevitably follow.
I hope in future that we. will have no more disastrous forest fires.
Mr. Knechtel — My friend who has just spoken wishes 'to know why a permit
should be obtained to set fires. During two months of the spring and two months in
- the fall we prohibit fires being set They cannot be set even by obtaining permission.
Then, during the summer months fires may be set provided permission is obtained from
the fire wardens. It seems to me that this gives the fire warden an opportunity to see
that a fire set by a settler is properly controlled and does not extend to the territory
adjoining that of the man who seta the fire. That is the reason why we require per-
mission to be obtained.
The Chairman — This morning some members of the Association were not able to
get copies of the directors' report. I am happy to say that a number of these copies have
been prepii.red and any one who would like one can get it now. There will be a
meeting to-morrow at 9 o'clock of the Committee on Resolutions.
Mr. White — I have listened with a great deal of interest to the very kind remarks
that have been made by Mr. Booth and Mr. Robinson, and the tone of approval
generally that has prevailed in respect to the Ontario system which I endeavoured to
explain to you this afternoon. There has- been very little criticism of it ; the only
serious criticism that I have heard has come from my friend Mr. Chown. He seems to
think some closer supervision than we now have over the fire rangers is necessary, and
in proof of the necessity for that he cites the case of one fire ranger who was said upon
the authority of somebody in the Geological Survey to have been absent from his post
for six weeks. T do not know what the officers of the Geological Survey were doing
around that particular settler's house or region for six weeks. If I were interested in
the Geological Survey that might with just as much reason become a matter of inquiry
for me. I am still of the opinion that, having regard to the way in which these men are
appointed, having regard to the purpose for which they are appointed, and having
regard to the enormous interests that aie at stake in their appointment, that is, the
proper guarding of the immense wealth of the lumbennen from destruction by fire, the
lumbermen exercise a good deal of caution and discrimination in the appointment of these
fire rangers. I am not willing to believe, without- better evidence than I have heard this
afternoon, at any rate, that the lumbermen so far neglect their own pecuniary interests
as to foist men on the fire ranging service simply to give them something to do. As to
any better system of superintending these rangers it has been proposed that we should
keep our regular forest rangers on duty the whole year, in order to supervise the other
rangers. Well, perhaps if we did that, we should get more information about them and
Digitized by
Google
• CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOGIA TION 56
perhaps they would stick a little more closely to their duty. I am afraid that the
legislature will not be inclined to vote any more money at the present time for this
service. If we were to create such a staff to look after the fire rangers, I very much
fear there would be diflSculty in getting the money. I am sure the lumbermen and the
men in their service will agree that they exercise great care in selecting these rangers.
Of course it goes without saying, that the lumbermen themselves cannot select every
man, that they have to leave it in the hands of their superintendents, who know the
men a great deal better than the lumbermen themselves know them, to pick out their
best men to perform this service. I am unwilling to believe that men are foisted on
the service with the object of giving them employment. Mr. Chown says that he is a
Methodist and that he believes in going on to perfection and he says the Presbyterians
believe in final perseverance. Well, I happen to be a Church of England man and I
believe in going slow and steady in the^e matters. We have gone slow and steady.
We commenced in a very small way with some 35 men, and we have now 250 men em-
ployed in the "service, and I think the judgment of every one who is familiar with the
work is that it is fairly well done. I suppose there are occasional lapses from duty ;
these will occur in every business, but take the forest and fire ranging service as a
whole, and I believe it to be well and faithfully performed. I have had two or three
charges similar to that mentioned by Mr. Chown about fire rangers and I have , inves-
tigated them down to the ground and in every instance the circumstances were not as
they were alleged to be. Whenever we hear of a case of this kind we investigate it,
and if Mr. Chown will get his geological friends to give me the name of the fire ranger
in question I will investigate his case and if he has been acting in that way we will see
that he does not fire range any more. These rangers have to swear to the number of
days they were employed and that account accompanies their diary, so that we have an
opportunity of checking their diary with their account. In addition the lumbermen
have to swear that they were in their employ so long as fire rangers and that they did
not do anything else than act as fire rangers. Now, if affidavits are any good, and I
confess I sometimes doubt the value of an affidavit, I think we have all the evidence
we can expect to get
I am delighted to be here because it is a great thing to have the privilege of coming
here once a year and listening to the experience of men from the Atlantic to the Pacific
in matters of forestry. The Icwt time I had the honour of attending a forestry meeting
it was in the good old city of Quebec, and it was the meeting of the American Forestry
Association. I look back upon that meeting with a great deal of pleasure. The Quebec
Government, of which Mr. Mercier was then Premier, showed us the greatest kindness
and hospitality. Those of us, who perhaps were not as good as we ought to be, were
taken down to Ste. Anne de Beaupr^ in order that we might get the benefit of absolution
if we required it, but some of us did not need it and those who did need it had not time
to get it. My friend Mr. Blue was there. I do wish, if it were possible, that you
could induce the American Association to hold another meeting in this Dominion, and I
would suggest that it should be held in the summer time, when everything is bright and
the trees are in leaf, that we should take them into the forest, up. to Lake Temiskaming
and hold it at Mr. Lumsden's hotel, or some place up there. I think it would be a
most enjoyable outing and they would have a most instructive meeting.
Digitized by
Google
56 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION ' •
The Chairman — I hope that Mr. White will send an invitation to these gentlemen
to come here and 1 think if he does, they will probably come. I believe that the meet-
ing of the American Forestry Association in Canada has done a large amount of good.
Prof. Macoun — As a member of the Geological Survey staff and a Presbyterian I
would say that I believe in the perseverance of the saints. I am satisfied that the
member of the Geological Survey staflF that had that gentleman under observation for
six weeks
Mr. Chown — Well now, I would like to say that this gentleman did not get his
information because he was there all that time. He was passing up on his way to the
height of land. He was there when he passed and he was there when he came back six
weeks later. He had every reason to believe that the ranger had never been away at
all. I had no intention of casting any aspersions on the work of the department in
connection with this service. Everybody who has studied forestry knows the excellent
work that has been done and how much we owe to Mr. White for the interest, for tlie
foreknowledge, for the prophecy he has had in connection with forestry supervision. I
took the opportunity of making a suggestion which I thought might help to improve
the service of which we are all so proud, but not with the idea of casting the slightest
slur on the excellent work Mr. White has done on behalf of forest supervision.
Mr. White — T never thought that you did.
The Chairman — I believe the Government should exercise some supervision over
these men because it is very important.
The Chairman called upon Mr. R. H. Campbell to read a report of the Forest Fires
of 1902, prepared by instruction of the Association.
FOREST FIRES IN 1902.
(Prepared by Instruction of the Annual Meeting^ 1902.)
The season of 1902 was very wet throughout the greater part of Canada, so that
fortunately the loss of timber from forest fires has been comparatively small, but this
danger is still as pressing as ever, ior the fires have been quite as numerous in the dry
parts of the season and some of them have caused considerable loss, while others were
only prevented from doing so by the most strenuous efforts of the fire rangers and
others. In order to obtain the information included in this report it has been neces-
sary to appeal to the kindness of the gentlemen who assisted in this work pre\dou8ly,
and to them the thanks of the Association are due.
Nova Scotia.
In Nova Scotia the Department of Crown Lands has, at the instance of the ener-
getic Vice-President of the Forestry Association, been making a careful inquiry in re-
gard to forest fires and forest management generally. Replies have not been received
from all to whom application has been made, but it is the intention to push the inquiry
until the fullest possible information has been obtained, so that the Government may
be in a position to knpw the conditions that have to be dealt with in any scheme for a
more advanced administration of forest lands.
In regard to forest fires, it appears from reports, that the damage done during the
year 1902, was not as great as that for 1901, although there is a difference of opinion
with respect to the matter. One fire alone is represented by one person to have caused
damage amounting to $150,000, but he appears to have known that the fire was more
Digitized by
Google
IS
n
o
H
K
O
M
<
<
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 57
extensive than did othei's who reported it. It appears to be certain, that the area
burned over in 1902 was greater than that burned over in 1901, but a considerable
portion was not at the time well timbered land. Tt should not be forgotten, however, that
much of this land might in a few years begin to produce timber. The fire has put this
result back perhaps two generations. There were over 25,000 acres of forest burned
and the loss was certainly over $100,000. Perhaps it may have been double.
The approximate value of firewood produced at $2 per cord, was $150,000 and this
was required for home consumption. About 300,000,000 feet of lumber of all kinds
were undoubtedly produced for home consumption and exportation, more than one-half
of which was sent to trans- Atlantic ports. As to the trees which are considered the
most desirable to encourage, spruce is generally, though not always, the first mentioned,
with the pine second. Oak is first mentioned amongst hardwoods, followed by birch,
yellow and white, maple and beech. Hemlock and fir are also considered profitable in
some localities.
Particulars from some reports may be given. A report from Yarmouth county
states that the Crown lands cover an area of over 100,000 acres and a larger part of it
is what are called ' barrens,' that is, land which wa« fire swept years ago. Last year
about ten square miles of the beginnings of forest were burned for the purpose of making
blueberry barrens. If this land were protected, it is convertible into good timber land.
In Shelburne county there were numerous small fires which did great damage to
the future interests of the country and an area of probably ten miles square was de-
stroyed. It is difficult to estimate the loss, for it will require a very long time for the
reforesting of the district, even should no fires be allowed to cross the region again.
Attention is called in two reports to the danger from excessive cutting. In Digby
county it is represented that the cutting of * spiling \ taking thrifty young trees from 8
to 10 inches at the butt, is taking the life out of the forest and is a practice that should
be stopped. In Hants county it is stated that in many cases the lumbermen are cutting
everything down, to trees as small as sixteen feet long and six inches at the small end.
Consequently there are no small trees left on the ground to grow and even if the land
escapes forest fires, it will be more than a generation before there is any more lumber
to cut.
New Brunswick.
In the province of New Brunswick, the summer of 1902 was very wet and there
was little need of wardens to look after forest fires. The provilice escaped particularly
well, as it appears from the records of the Crown Lands Department and correspondence
had by that Department with prominent men in each county that comparatively little
<iamage was done. In the county of Kent only, was there a fire of any proportions.
-Quite an extensive fire took place in that county early in May, which destroyed timber
on both granted and Crown lands, but it has been impossible to ascertain with any
accuracy the extent or value of the timber destroyed.
Prince Edward Island.
In Prince Edward Island the statement is made that fires were not at ail prevalent
and no reports of forest fires were received by the Department of Agriculture during
the past year.
Quebec.
The Province of Quebec escaped without serious loss during the year but this
result is probably mainly due to the wetness of the season as many fires were started.
In fire district No. 1, or the Upper Ottawa, the exact number of fires is not given but
there were eight that were sufficiently serious to require an expenditure of' about nine
hundred dollars for their extinguishment. Three of these fires were caused by fire from
Digitized by
Google
58 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
locomotive engines, three by carelessness on the part of river drivers, and others were
caused by settlers and lightning. The rangers employed in this district were twenty-
nine regular and twenty-two special, a total of fifty-one. The holders of timber licenses
urge an addition to the number of fire rangers and the Superintendent suggests an
increase of five. In fire district No. 2, there were 79 fires reported, 47 of which occur-
red in May and 15 in June, one in July, 10 in August and 6 in September. One was
caused by Indians, one by fishermen, the cause of four is unknown, and the remainder
appear to be due to fires set out by settlers. The extent of the fire and the loss occa-
sioned thereby has in most case« not been determined but the reports submitted speak
for example of the burning of about 1,500 young pine, 10 to 12 inches on the stump, of
the destruction of a small mountain of young pines about one mile long by about six
acres wide, of the burning of 2,300 logs valued at 50 cent a log. The setting out of fire by
settlers is a question that is found difficult to deal with and the Superintendent repeats
his suggestion that the season within which fires may not be set out should commence
at an earlier date and that the rangers should be vested with larger powers. That the
law in this respect is not observed is shown by six specific instances reported by one
ranger in which fires were set out by settlers in contravention of the statute. The
number of fire rangers in this district was twenty-two and they had to patrol and safe-
guard a tract of 17,824 square miles. In the Gatineau district the average area for
each ranger was 360 square miles, on the Lower Ottawa 585 square miles and in the St
Maurice Agency 1,316 square miles.
The total amount expended in the province for the protection of the forests from
fire was $17,000 but the fire tax brought in the sum of $7,306, leaving the net expen-
diture $9,694. This to protect a revenue of over one million dollars.
Ontario.
The returns of forest fires in Ontario have not yet been completed so that details
are not available. There was one fire in the early part of the season in the vicinity of
Madawaska which was kept in check only by the most strenuous exertions of the fire
rangers and the employees of the Parry Sound Railway. Fortunately it was confined
to timber that was not of much value but it came dangerously near to one of the most
valuable timber limits held by Mr. J. R. Booth and also threatened destruction to the
village of Madawaska. There was also a fire on the Mississaga river but it is under-
stood that the damage caused by it was not heavy. One occurrence of special im-
portance is the treatment meted out to some tourists in Temagami Park who carelessly
left fire burning behind them and would not turn back to extinguish it even when urged
to do so by their guides. These people were captured and each of them was required
to pay a fine.
The number of fire rangers was 234 and the expenditure by the Crown was $34,200.
The revenue from the forests for the past year was $1,505,000.
Manitoba.
In Manitoba and the North-west Territories the season was also favourable and no
serious fires have been reported. In the Turtle Mountain Reserve the young growth is
coming up in a satisfactory manner. The fire break running through the reserve from
north to south has been kept well cleared and no fires got within its boundaries although
it was only by diligent watch that it was kept from coming in on the south.
In the Riding Mountain district no fires of importance occurred.
British Columbia.
The only province of Canada in any part of which the season was dry practically
throughout was British Columbia. All through the railway belt innumerable fires
occurred, the majority of which were set by settlers clearing their lands, while others
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 59
were caused by sparks from locomotives and fires left carelessly by campers. These
fires were carefully watched by the rangers and promptly attended to. As the Railway
Belt is covered by Mr. Leamy's -paper elsewhere it will not be necessary to go into
particulars.
On Vancouver Island the fires were mainly in the Nanaimo and Cowichan districts.
In South Nanaimo one fire caused a loss estimated at $25,000, and in Cowichan at least
three fires threatened to be serious and were kept in check in two cases only by hard
fighting, chiefly by the employees of the lumber companies. Reports from the Cassiar,
Cariboo and Lillooet districts show only a few small fires, and in Yale district the only
one of importance swept the cattle ranges at Vernon. In West Kootenay the only
serious fires were in the vicinity of Nelson. In Wild Horse valley a portion of a fuse
from a blast started a fire which covered an area of nine miles long and two miles wide
on which stood one of the finest strips of timber in the province, and one that was badly
needed. In addition, this fire destroyed the buildings of the Roanoke and Tamarack
mines, the Ymir mine saw-mill and four other mining properties, besides 1,800 cords of
wood. In East Kootenay the village of Michel suffered seriously from a fire which started
on June 9 on land on the outskirts which was being cleared. Twenty-four buildings,
including the post office, were destroyed and also considerable of the property of the rail-
way company. On August 9 a fire occurred close to Femie which placed the town in danger.
A resident of Femie states that during the last four years bush fires have been frequent
in that section, and to his own knowledge 200,000,000 feet b.m. 6f timber has been des-
troyed. The estimate may be high but certainly the destruction has been very great
and there is no likelihood of its decreasing unless some active measures are taken. The
fires have been caused mainly by the carelessness of hunters and prospectors aYid by
persons clearing land, and would appear to have been preventible if care had been exer-
cised. This is established by the fact that, as reported from Nicola in Yale district, no
fires have occurred in that vicinity, though traversed a great deal by prospectors and
Indians, they having learned to exercise care in the handling of fire. For a province
situated as British Columbia, with its immense forest areas of comparatively low, though
increasing, value, the prevention of fires is the main object which can be directly accom-,
plished. Something more in the direction might be done by the advertising of the Bush
Fires Act by means of posters in all places traversed by the public and by the direct
influence of the agents of the Government, by impressing strongly on such agents their
duties under the Act and requiring that they be carried out, and probably by the
appointment of additional officers for the dangerous periods of the year in such districts
as that in the vicinity of Femie where settlement is advancing rapidly.
In view of the statement by a British Columbia Timber Inspector referred to in
the Annual Report of last year to the effect that * fire is the great enemy and can no
more be prevented in a forest than in a town, which in spite of fire brigades and insur-
ance companies it bums up not infrequently' I thought it advisable to secure the views
of some of the members of the Forestry Association in British Columbia on the
question.
Here are some of the replies : —
From a lumberman : * There is certainly no question however but what there is a
very large amount of very valuable timber destroyed by fire in this province, as well
as in other sections of Canada, and I firmly believe that a properly organized system of
fire ranging would be most valuable in reducing to a minimum the number of forest
fires which are started in various ways during our dry season in this province.'
From another lumberman : * We trust that the Association will take the strongest
possible ground in support of the continuation of the fire ranging system in the British
Columbia Railway Belt. We have had at least one case the past season in the Columbia
River valley where a fire started and if it had not been for the prompt action of the
Government fire ranger in putting out this fire after several days' hard work, the first
high wind would have caused it to spread and burn a good many feet of valuable
timber. If the number of fire rangers along the railway belt is doubled next year and
good men selected, we are satisfied the effect will be good and are perfectly willing to
pay our share of the expense.'
Digitized by
Google
40 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
From a newspaper editor : * Do not for one moment entei'tain the idea that there
is no use in an efficient system of fii*e ranging. Such work is invaluable/
From a capitalist and rancher : * My opinion of the work done by the rangers
throughout the railway belt this year is that they have certainly done a great deal of
good in preventing the spread of fire in the timber in this portion of the country, but
on account of the lack of co-operation on the part of the Provincial Government not
nearly so much good has been done as might have been/
From a rancher : * We all know fire is the great enemy. That is the great need
for fire biigades and all fire protection. The work of the fire rangers in this province
in the short time they have been inaugurated has been the means of saving immense
tracts of valuable timber. Their work being chiefly of a preventive character (which
is certainly the best way to cope with a fire) if prevention is not better than cure, I
have nothing further to say. Burglaries exist in the face of police protection, but it
would be extremely absurd to do away with these^because each and every offender is
not brought to court. I beg to submit if some effective fire protecting system did not
exist our homes and belongings would be all in jeopardy with each recurring
summer.'
The forest fires in Oregon and Washington States are a great object lesson. In
those states fires occurred that devastated an area of 600,000 acres, destroyed timber
and property valued at $12,767,100, including $922,000 of farm property, left 250
settlers homeless, and caused the loss of over twenty lives. An investigation of these
fires was made by the Bureau of Forestry of the United States and, speaking parti-
cularly of the fires in Oregon State, Mr. Wm. T. Cox, who made the investigation,
states' that all tlie fires could have been prevented or extinguiaJied before becoming
serious hctd there been rangers in these loccUities^ as most of them were burning for a
length of time before they became dangerous. These fires come up right to the boun-
dary of British Columbia at the Railway Belt, and if similar conflagrations did not
occur there it can only be attributed to the preventive work done. When we think of
the millions of dollars' worth of valuable property gone up in smoke, of the hundreds of
.wild animals penned in by the fire and dying in pent-up heaps of confused and convul-
sive agony in the waters where they had sought refuge, of the misery and suffering to
human beings, of the families rendered homeless and the lives sacrificed, surely the few
thousand dollars per annum which an efficient fire ranging system would cost is but a
small thing to place in the balance against the burden of loss and suffering which
weighs down the scale so heavily.
In conclusion let me quote the following from the American Lumberman, speaking
of Pacific Coast conditions : —
* Some people are inclined to scoff at the idea of being able to control forest fires,
but experience has demonstrated the value of a forest patrol and a thoroughly trained
fire fighting force. There has not been a forest fire of great importance in Minnesota
since 1 894. The experience of that year taught the state authorities a lesson, and since
then there has been a system of fire wardens which has extinguished hundreds of fires,
any one of which if let alone might have caused tremendous damage. No patrol system
can absolutely insure against disastrous fires in the dry season but with such a system
in effect the danger is decreased by 90 per cent or more. Experience everywhere in the
old countries as well as the United States demonstrates that the saving of property
many times repays the cost of even the most elaborate and expensive system of protection,
and perhaps the most thorough and therefore the more costly the system is the more
profitable it is. '
The meeting adjourned at 5.30 p.m. to be resumed again on Friday, March 6.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION ei
FRIDAT, MABCH 6th.— MOBNINa SESSION.
The meeting was called to order at 10.30 a.m.
The Chairman called upon Mr. Norman M. Ross, Assistant Superintendent of
Forestry for the Dominion, to read a paper prepared by Mr. A. P. Stevenson, Nelson^
Manitoba, on * Tree Planting in Manitoba.'
Mr. Ross — Mr. Chairman, I have been asked to read this paper that Mr. Steven-
son has prepared on forestry work in Manitoba. Mr. Stevenson is an old settler in
Manitoba, having gone there some 20 years, ago, and for the last two or three years he
has been engaged in inspection work in connection with the tree planting that the
Government is following in the prairie districts.
F0BESTB7 WOBK IN MANITOBA.
A. P. STEVENSON, NELSON, MAN.
In endeavouring to comply with the invitation of the Secretary of the Canadian
ForestiT Association to write a paper on the important subject of Forest Culture in
Manitoba to be read at this meeting, I am painfully conscious of mv inability to do
justice to a subject, the proper discussion of which might well occupy the best minds of
the province.
I crave the indulgence of the company present, while endeavouring to lay before
you some of the reasons which I trust may be of service in awakening a new interest in
a matter of vital importance to Manitoba!, and in doing so may perhaps bring forward
a few facts and items not wholly new, yet of such practical importance as to bear
repeating. With line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, all
important truths are inculcated.
The peculiar weakness of human nature to be in haste to become rich continually
acts as a drawback to the sure but gradual accumulation of wealth. The young man
of enterprise, industry and ambition is generally in tgo big a hurry for permanent
success. The profits on a quarter-section of wheat, with its speedy returns in ready
money within a year or two from the commencement of his work, is more alluring than
the slow accumulations through stock raisiug or tree planting, and their consequent
permanent values. The too common but mistaken idea, that it takes too long to wait
to get any good from tree planting, must be corrected.
What encouragement have we to plant trees ? In the first place we are assured
that the planting of trees will accomplish what we seek to accomplish. They will pro-
tect from winds, modify the temperature and yield a certain amount of fuel. In the
second place, we have good reason to believe that other good eflPects will follow, that the
rainfall will be better distributed, our springs preserved, the air rendered more hum id ^
and fruit culture facilitated.
In the third place, we know that trees will grow on our prairies, if properly planted
and protected. It >yas formerly believed because nature had not permitted them to
grow, that trees would not grow on our prairies. This, the artificial groves scattered
over our province, as well as our own experience here at home, sufliciently refute.
In the fourth place, we ace not pioneers in this business of forestry. The Western
States have led the way and have thousands of groves of trees from 40 to 50 feet in
height.
Digitized by
Google
62 , CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Our Government have already well begun the work here, and last year four hundred
thousand trees were planted by the settlers in the prairie portion of our province under
the supervision of the Forestry Branch of the Department of the Interior. The varieties
of trees furnished consisted of Manitoba maple, cottonwood, elm and Russian willow.
Ninety per cent of these trees were gi-owiiig and in a healthy state at the closing in of
winter. It will require this spring about one million trees to meet the demands of
applicants who are taking advantage of this co-operative tree-planting scheme inaugu-
rated by the Dominion Government. The increasing number taking advantage of this
scheme shows that our people are alive and wide-awake to the necessities and possibil-
ities of tree planting in this great region. We have only to keep the ball in motion to
produce grand results to show that the encouragement and assistance given will not be
tendered in vain.
The objection that the state should not pay a man for improving his own premises,
would be logical were the improvement limited to the man's private benefit. Raising trees
bears no analogy to raising a crop of potatoes or wheat. They are not annuals, they
live after we are goAe. They are bequests to our successors. They are factors of climate,
of general agriculture, of the people's healthfulness. As rivers and lakes are public
benefactions, so are forests.
The framers of our co-operative tree-planting scheme viewed the matter in this light
and have built upon this principle. The right of the Government is also recognized to
supervise the trees it has paid for.
While such belong to the farms where they are growing and are as inalienable as
the soil, in justice to itself the state steps in and declares that they shall not be
neglected or removed ; that the cutting shall only be by governmental permit to the pro-
prietor of the farm, to the end that such forests shall be preserved for climatic uses and
rural beauty.
In order to make a success in growing trees, we must be thorough in the prepara-
tion of the land before the trees are planted. They need to be well cultivated until
they are large enough to take care of themselves, and unless this is done it is of but
little use to think of growing a good shelter belt. After breaking up the sod it is
advisable to take off at least one crop of grain before planting trees. The sod will then
be fairly well rotted and the trees will grow fast-er, but without doubt the best prepara-
tion is summer-fallow the year previous to planting. The next best is land that has
been under hoed crops of some kind. A hoed crop between the rows of trees the first
year is sometimes advised, 'but from observations made the past summer between trees
grown with and without a hoed crop, I would most emphatically advise the latter way.
As regards the best kind of timber to plant on the prairies, the adaptability of
certain varieties to certain soils must be recognized. Russian poplar and Manitoba
maple succeed fairly well on high sandy soil, but cottonwood, elm and ash delight in a
deep moist loam.
For early wind-break or shelter from the wind, the most rapid growers are the cot-
tonwood, Russian willow, Russian poplar and maple. These varieties siiould be the
pioneer trees in starting a wind-break.
It is also a matter of no small importance to us to know how best to arrange our
trees so as to have them both ornamental and useful. If we would grow tall, straight
trees, we must have them planted quite near together ; if too far apart they will grow
short. trunks with spreading tops, which are not desirable.
Experience teaches that the best results are obtained by planting four feet apart
each way or 2,720 trees to an acre. There is another benefit derived from close planting,
for if well cultivated, in three or four years they will be able to take care of themselves.
The mistake most commonly made by our farmers in starting a wind-break is the ten-
dency to plant the trees too close around the buildings — in fact, in their door yards, if
possible. One of the chief difficulties met with in laying out shelter-belts for those
taking advantage of the Government tree-planting scheme is this desire on the part of
intending planters to have the trees close to their buildings. They have to be shown
that with close planting up to buildings, the snow will be stopped and piled up just
where they do not want it. Their door yards and barn yards will become filled with
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORBSTRT ASSOCIATION 63
«now, in other words, they will have no yards visible and would be quite likely to find
themselves wishing they had not planted trees. No trees should be planted within 50
on 60 yards at the very lectat on north and west of buildings, that is, if planting with a
view to a wind-break, and to save the trees in the shelter-belt from being ^broken down
with snow banks it is advisable to have a snow-break of one or two rows of willows on
north^and west of wind-break, but at a distance of 40 or 50 yards from the latter. This
space always to be left clear of trees, and to hold the snow banks in winter.
The question of pruning trees is one which appears to trouble the average tree
planter a good deal. There is an overweening desire with a great many people when
they get their knife sharpened that they must prune all their trees because it is the
style. This is done on the principle that it improves a horse to have his tail cut off.
They assume that nature is totally depraved and never can right herself without their
intervention. If planted close as we advise, the trees will ^ pire up tall and timber-like
and will prune themselves better than do nine-tenths of the intermeddlers.
Another question with a good many people is, which is the proper time to plant
trees — spring or fall ? The objection to fall planting in this province is, the falls are so
short the earth gets cold early. The tree cannot form rootlets in sufficient quantity to
retain its vitality during the winter. This seems to be rather queer, as a good many
think that the tree does not need any sustenance during the winter, but it is neverthe-
less a fact that it needs a great deal of it for the reason that every bit of sap evaporated
by hard freezing weather must be counter-balanced and furnished by the roots to pre-
vent the tree from getting winter killed. The tree while in dormant condition is by no
means lifeless, and the hard winter's frost is a heavy strain on its vitality. This is
reason enough why we should not plant any sort of trees in the fall, not in Manitoba.
I might enlarge this paper profitably with a chapter on the preservation of our
natural forests. I might also show some of the blessings resulting from extensive
forest culture in the favourable climatic changes sure to follow, better sanitary condi-
tions and the promotion of all the material interests of the province, but short and
eoncise is the word, and I will close by saying there is a rich mine of undeveloped
wealth in our treeless regions which can only be developed by a comprehensive, broad
system of tree planting.
The Chairman — Is there any gentleman who would like to say anything on this
paper?
Mr. W. T. Macoun, Horticulturist and Curator of the Arboretum at the Central
Experimental Farm, Ottawa — I would like to ask Mr. Ross if he finds the Box Elder a
straight growing tree all through Manitoba and the North-west. In the east it grows
very crookedly. I noticed in Manitoba last winter that it grew very straight. Is that
the general rule *?
Mr. Ross — As a general rule Box Elder is about the most crooked growing tree
we have out there.
Mr. W. T. Macocn — I noticed at Brandon how straight they were.
Mr. Ross — You mean the ones that were pruned ]
Mr. W. T. Macoun— Yes.
Mr. Ross — You can keep them pruned to a fairly straight tree, but it means a
great deal of work. They only grow on the long branches about three or four stems
branching from the crown of the trees.
Digitized by
Google
64 CANADIAy FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Prof. Macoun — There is a point in that connection that I may just as well speak
about now. Evidently the trees growing in the places where the seed for these trees
which have been planted was got were all twisted trees, because these Manitoba maples
in some places would rather lie 'down than stand up. They have learned that habit and
if the seed of the trees which are being planted is taken from twisted trees, what can
you expect ? — like father like son. If the tree from which the seed is taken has for a
long series of years been lying down and not standing up, what can you expect ? Now,
the Manitoba maple, as it grows in the east, here, stands up straight. For instance, I
will tell you where there are some maple trees ; in the Don river valley, a mile or two
from Toronto, the trunks of these trees are higher than the ceilings of this room — fin^
noble trunks. I was in St. Paul some 20 years ago and I noticed that all the trees
there were straight growing trees. Of course, I made some inquiries, and I discovered
that the trees that produced them were the trees that I am speaking of that grow tall.
I will mention another plac^ in Western Ontario where these tall growing trees may be
seen. If you were at Chatham, right in the valley of the Thames, you would^see this
Manitoba maple growing as a native tree ; in fact, from Toronto westward it grows in
the river valleys and it does not lie down. It grows up straight and it is a fine tree.
Inside the city limits of Chatham you will find Manitoba maples, many of them over
two feet in diameter, and you will find them to be straight growing trees. All the
crooked-growing trees are the trees that are found in the river valleys west of Manitoba.
I do not speak of the Manitoba maple in Manitoba, as I have no information in regard
to it, but I do know that they are all crooked west of that. They grow in the river
valleys, not on the slopes, as you get west, and the result is that if you look at them you
will see that they are just lying down, twisted around and throwing up a trunk here
and there. I have no doubt that the seed of these trees is being used. You have this
same kind of tree growing on Metcalfe street. It is growing up to be a fine tree right
opposite the new building the Government has put up for the accommodation of the
Surveyor GeneraFs staff. In the Don valley and at Chatham — and I could cite other
places as far up as Owen Sound — these trees are growing ; but these are two prominent
places where the trees are large and growing straight, and I am quite positive that the
trees at St. Paul I saw were of the same character. I question whether the trees grow-
ing at the Experimental Farm at Brandon are not from the southern side of the line
rather than seed from Manitoba and westward. I am only supposing that ; I do not
know. But, it is a fact that the western trees must be crooked because their fathers are
crooked. I never saw a Manitoba maple in that whole western region that grows up
straight and beautiful like a tree should. They lie down and are twisted about, and I
am positive, sir, that the eastern seed — I will not say eastern, I will say seed nearer the
Manitoba border — will grow trees well and you can get all you need.
Mr. Ross. — I may say in connection with collecting seed from the Western States
that in the last two springs we have been short in getting this seed, as the maple seed
up there has been affected by a fungus and, consequently, we had to get a considerable
quantity of seed from St. Paul. It was probably picked in Minnesota. We found that
it had the habit of growing straight and that it also had the habit of requiring a longer
season to mature, and that when this seed was planted alongside of native-grown seed
in the west it took two weeks and, sometimes, three weeks longer for the plant to
mature and, consequently, when the frost came on in the fall the plants were killed back
almost to the ground. At the Experimental Farm at Indian Head, when they started
Digitized by
Google
^ g
M o
ST. d}
o <
as
Si
£ I
> s
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOGIA TION 65
planting there, they set out some of these Minnesota trees from seed and they were not
successful at first on that account, but now they are making very good trees. However,
we cannot see any difference as regards their habit of growth from the seed grown from
native stock.
Prof. Macoun. — T suppose T may be permitted, when we have heard the other
paper that is to be read, to say something in regard to the points which have been
brought out in this one, because this should not be let go without some more discussion
upon it.
The Chairman. — Yes.
Mr. Stewart. — The two papers are somewhat alike and I think they very properly
could be discussed together.
Mr. W. T. Macoun was called upon to read a paper on The Growth of the Forest
Trees in the Forest Belts and Arboretum of the Experimental Farm, Ottawa.
The Growth of Forest Trees in the Forest Belts and Arboretnm at the Central
Experimental Farm, Ottawa.
W. T. MACOUN, CURATOR OF THE ARBORETUM, CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM,^0TTAWA.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — The first planting of forest trees was made at the
Experimental Farm, 1887 — some 15 years ago. I have been fortunate, I think, in being
connected with the Experimental Farm since that year and in having been connected also
with the planting of trees since that year, so that I have grown up with the trees and
have been able to examine them very carefully and compare the rates of growth of the
different species. I remember quite well in the autumn of 1887 when we were making
a part of the plantation in the forest belt at the experimental fann ; it was in the month
of November. In the year 1887 we were not as well equipped on the farm as we are
now and we had to plant at almost every season of the year whenever there was a
chance to do so. There was a gang of us planting out trees in the forest belt in
November and there came up a heavy snow storm and we were in this snow storm
planting the trees. This tree I have brought with me (referring to a specimen Scotch
pine — Pinus Sylvestris — on exhibition in the council chamber) is one of the same stock
that we used at that time, although not from the same plantation.
Experiments in the growing of forest trees at the Central Experimental Farm were
begun mainly for the purpose of gaining information which would be useful to the
farmers of Canada, and the fifteen years' work accomplished has been of some ser\'ice to
the farming community, and also to others who are interested in the growth and
development of trees from a more economic and scientific standpoint.
About twenty-one acres of the Experimental Farm have been devoted to the plant-
ing of forest trees in belts and clumps, and sixty-five additional acres have been used for
an arboretum and botanic garden in which forest trees are planted as individual sj)eci-
raens.
The forest belts extend along the whole northern and western boundaries of the
farm, the Ijelt along the western side being 165 feet wide, and that on the northern
boundary 65 feet, their total length being nearly 1| miles. There is an evergreen plant-
ation also occupying about two acres. These belts and plantation were planned by Dr.
Wm. Saunders, the director, and the first planting was dpne in the j'ear 1887.
The main points on which information was desired were : — 1st. As to the rate of
growth of the best timber trees when grown on different kinds of soil and at different
distances apart ; the distances chosen at first being 5 x 5 feet, 5 x 10 feet, and 10 x 10
5"
Digitized by
Google
66 CAN A DIAN FORESTRY ASiSOGIA TION
feet. 2nd. It was desirable to know how the gi'owth of trees planted in blocks of one
species compared with those grown in mixed plantations. 3rd. It was important to
learn what influence the forest belts would have on the crops in the adjoining fields, in
regard to the shelter afforded them, and also how far from the belt the crop would be
affected adversely. 4th. The planting was also planned as far as possible with the object
of improving the landscape, and the several species were arranged so that a good effect
would be produced. Other useful and interesting facts would also be obtained and the
belts would stand as object lessons to farmers who saw them and would l>e useful to
those who were interested in studying tree growth.
These were the principal objects in view in establishing the forest plantations at
the Central Experimental Farm. We propose to endeavour to show how far these
objects have been accomplished. First, with regard to the comparative growth of trees
when planted on different kinds of soil and at^ifferent distances apart.
The soil in which the trees were planted was in some instances poor, in some cases
wet and cold, in others heavy clay loam, black muck, sandy loam and also in gravelly
soil. A great variety of soil being represented in the 1 J miles of forest belts.
The black walnut thrives well and grows rapidly on warm sandy loam, but is almost
at a standstill in wet, cold, sandy soil, and the trees are stunted and practically useless.
This is very interesting, for in western Ontario this tree thrives best in river bottoms,
but it is a good example of how trees taken from a comparatively warm and dry part of
the country must be given a warm soil in a colder climate even though there is less
moisture in the ground. A number of species of Canadian trees as they reach their
northern limits are found growing on much higher altitudes than where they grow to
perfection. The hard maple is an example. This tree as it grows north seeks the hill-
• sides. Iiwthe Maritime Provinces also it is found on the high elevations. The white,
red and green ash grow almost equally well on wet, cold soil, heavy clay loam, black
muck and gravelly soil. The black ash only succeeds where there is an abundant supply
of water.
White, canoe and yellow birches all thrive on the light soils, but they also do well
on heavier and wetter ground.
The hard maple succeeds best and grows quickest in warm sandy loam. In clay
loam it makes a healthy but slow growth, the growth lessening as the loam gets stiffer.
Good drainage is very essential for the vigorous growth of this tree. The red maple
does best in moist ground and the rate of growth is largely governed by the amount of
moisture in the soil. It is unfortunate that so many of these trees have been planted
along the streets of Ottawa, as the permanent roadways and walks which are being
made in the city prevent these trees getting the moisture which they require and they
are gradually sickening and dying. The red maple has a wide range from north to
south in America, and it has been found at the Experimental Farm that trees of this
species imported from the south are in some cases not hardy. The silver maple thrives
in a greater variety of soils than the red and is a more rapid growjer. It, however, also
requires a plentiful supply of moisture to make its best growth.
The white or American elm has been tested at the Experimental Farm in a great
many kinds of soil. There is an elm avenue about three-quarters of a mile long, and by
driving along this the rate of growth of the trees on different kinds of soil can easily b?
noticed. This tree is making the strongest growth in the warmer but fairly moist soils.
Where the subsoil is a cold, compact sand it does not thrive nearly so well. The elm
makes remarkably rapid growth where the conditions are favourable. Avenue trees
planted in 1888 when about 11 feet high and 1 J inches in diameter 4 feet 6 inches from
the ground, are now 37 feet in height and 12J inches in diameter at the same height
from the ground. The red and rock elm have also been tested in the forest belts, but
these are not important timber trees.
The beech does best in warm, sandy loam here like the hard maple, but does very
poorly where the soil is wet.
The basswood is one of the noblest trees and thrives well in the Ottawa district.
It succeeds best in rich, warm soil and seems to require a fair amount of moisture. It
has not done so well on light, sandy land. The butternut also grows well here, but does
best in warm, rich ground.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 67
Poplars and large growing willows have made very rapid growth on most soils, but
on stiff clay loam the willows have made least growth, though the poplars do well in it.
The Russian poplars made strong growth at first, but of late years have been affected
with a dry rot which is gi*adually destroying them. The white poplar is very subject to
borers, and the aspen is too small a tree to be of much value. The two species which
are making the best growth and the finest trees are the cottonwood (Populus deltoidea,
P. monUifera) and the balsam poplar (Populus balsami/era). These are fine species
and reach noble proportions here.
The white spruce makes the most rapid growth on warm, sandy loam soil at Ottawa
and the poorest growth in cold, light, sandy loam soil. It does well on gravelly soil
and fairly well on clay loam. The Norway spruce, which is the fastest growing spruce
we have, makes its greatest growth in good, sandy loam. It also succeeds well on
gravelly soil and clay loam ; in fact it has made good growth in all kinds of soil in
which it has been tested, but makes the poorest growth in the lightest, sandy loam
.soils.
The American arbor vitse thrives in almost all kinds of soil. It is most at home,
however, on the black and moist ones. It makes the least growth in heavy clay.
There is no forest tree which appears to succeed as well in such a great diversity of
soils as the Scotch pine (Pintvs sylvestris). This tree makes strong growth in cold, poor
soil, in clay loam and in warm sandy loam ; in fact we have not discovered a soil at the
Experimental Farm in which it does not thrive. The white pine succeeds best in sandy
loam, and although it makes a healthy growth on heavier and moister soils its growth is
much less.
One of the most striking trees at the Experimental Farm is the European larch
(Larix europifu). Like the other European trees, the Scotch pine and the Norway
spruce, the larch succeeds almost equally well on all kinds of soil. A block o? th3£e trees
in the forest belt in cold, sandy, loam soil have made very satisfactory growth, while
equally if not better growth has been made on the highest sandy loam on the farm. The
trees have also made strong growth on heavy clay loam. The larch saw-fly is, however,
very troublesome and if the trees were not sprayed they would be defoliated every year. It
is a remarkable fact that in the arboretum where specimens of the European larch and
our native tamarack are grown within a few feet of one another the saw-fly has not
attacked the native species. Tamarack transplanted from a swamp adjoining the
Experimental Farm have surprised us by Succeeding admirably on the higher ground in
sandy loam soil. Whether the tree will reach a large size in this soil has not yet, of
course, been determined. The success of this tree on the higher ground may be explained
by the fact that much of the soil at the Experimental Farm is underlaid with a moist
subsoil.
A tree which, although not of any importance as a timber tree in the east, is of
great value in Manitoba and the North-west, is the box elder (Acer negundo). In the
west this species makes a fine avenue tree, having a straight trunk and symmetrical top,
but at Ottawa the trunk is usually very crooked and the tree unsatisfactory except that
it makes a very rapid growth and is useful for temporary purposes. The box elder has
been used freely in the newer plantations as a temporary tree for shading the ground.
Planted in blocks it has not done well. The tree requires plenty of light and fails when
crowded. The box elder succeeds on most soils, but does best at Ottawa in the lighter
and warmer loams.
As already stated, the trees in the forest belt were planted 5x5 feet, 5x10 feet
and 10 X 10 feet apart in order to learn which was the most satisfactory method. These
distances have all been found too wide. Where the trees were 10 x 10 feet apart culti-
vation was still necessary in some cases eight years after planting, in order to prevent
sod from forming, and to get the trees to make satisfactory growth. The lower limbs
of the trees planted 10x10 feet apart have in many cases not yet died, the result being
that the trees have knotty trunks. The tops of the trees planted 10 x 10 feet apart
have also been more broken by storms than those planted closer. The main objection,
however, to such wide planting is in having to keep the ground cultivated for so many
years.
5i
Digitized by
Google
68
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Even 5x5 feet has not been found an economical distance, as cultivation had to
be kept up for from five to seven years, depending on the species and the arrangement
of the trees. The most satisfactory growth from a forestry standpoint has been obtained
in a solid plantation of evergreens, which was in 1887 a nursery, but which was allowed
to remain and was extended. The trees in this plantation were in rows 3 feet apart
and the trees from 1 to 2 feet apart in the rows. These have done remarkably well,
growing tall and straight, and having their lower branches killed early owing to the
dense growth. This plantation has been gradually thinned until the trees are now
about 3x4 feet apart, but the distance will be widened somewhat this year, as more
will be taken out for poles.
During the past three years some new plantations have been made in the forest
belts where certain kinds of trees have failed, and the trees in these blocks were planted
only 2J X 2| feet apart. These were not really all timber trees, as a large proportion
of shrubs and small trees were used for the purpose of shading the ground and saving
cultivation. Several kinds of trees and shrubs were used for this temporary purpose,
with the object of finding out which were the best. It may be found that 2)^ x 2i feet
apart is an extreme in close planting, and that a slightly wider distance would be
more satisfactory.
It has already been said that the trees in the forest belts were planted in blocks
of a single species and mixed plantations in order to demonstrate which was the better
plan.
The rapid growing evergreens have succeeded about as well in unmixed blocks as
where mixed with deciduous trees and other species of evergreens, but the deciduous
trees have required much less labour to keep them growing vigorously where the species
have been mixed. For instance, the ash, walnut, butternut and elm, though rapid
growing trees, have thin foliage and in the case of the ash, walnut and butternut are
late to leaf out in the spring. The result is that there is greater opportunity for grass
to grow ; there is also greater evaporation from the soil as the leaves are not thick
enough to shade the ground thoroughly. The result is that the trees do not grow as
rapidly as if there were no sod and the ground well shaded.
The hard maple, oak and beech are rather slow growing trees, and although they
have heavy foliage do not grow rapidly enough when planted in rows and cultivated to
shade the ground in a reasonable time.
The quick growing but thin foliaged trees require the thick foliaged deciduous kinds
and the evergreens planted among them to make good soil conditions and give best
results, and the thick foliaged but slower growing kinds require the others for the same
purpose. The box elder is both a thick foliaged and rapid growing species, and hence a
very useful kind as a temporary tree.
There is another advantage in having a mixed plantation cm a fann, and that is
that injunous insects spreaid less rapidly and are easier controlled than where the trees
are in blocks of a single species.
A number of averaare trees were selected in 1893 in the forest belts which showed
the following results : —
Distance
When
Height
when
Planted.
Name.
apart.
Planted.
Feet.
Inches.
White Pine
5x5
1889
8-10
„
10 xlO
1889
8-10
Scotch Pine
5x5
1887
Fall.
18
„
10 xlO
1887
18
,,
l^x 3
1887
9
Black Walnut . .
5 xlO
1887
12
White Ash ....
5x5
1889
3-year.
„
10 X 10
1889
M
Soil.
I I Diameter
Height, 4 ft. (J. in, from
I 1902. i (iround,
1902.
I Light sandy loam with gravel. .
I " . "
ilx)w sandy loam with gravel. .
Ft. In.
25 3
24 5
27 7
Light sandy loam and gravel. . .
Clay loam I
fBlack muck
Light s:indy loam, moist bottom,
22
26
17
25
26
Digitized by
Google
CANA DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TIOX 69
We have no actual information regarding the beneficial effects of the forest belts
at the. Central Experimental Farm on the crops growing in their vicinity, but at Indian
Head, N.W.T., it has been found that the crops have been increased very much. The
snow is more evenly distributed in fields protected by forest belts, and in the North-
west especially it is prevented to a large extent from blowing away altogether. The
evaporation of moisture from a field protected by a windbrake is also less than where it
is unprotected, and hence there is more moisture available for the growing crop. The
crops are affected adversely by the windbreak for a short distance, as the roots of the
trees extend into the field for some feet and moisture and plant food are taken from the
soil at the expense of the grain or root crop, but this small loss is offset many times over
by the protection afforded.
Arboretum.
There had been no successful attempt made to establish a national Arboretum and
Botanic Garden in Canada previous to 1886, but when the Dominion Experimental
Farms wei-e organized in that year, sixty-five acres were reserved at the Central Farm
for this purpose. The site chosen was a. very suitable one as most of the land is high
and a good view is obtained of the city of Ottawa in the distance. The Aboretum has
developed very rapidly, as although the first planting was done in 1889 there is now a
collection of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants which as regards the number of species
and varieties represented will compare very favourably with some of the older established
Arboretums and Botanic Gaixiens. In the autumn of 1902 there were about 2,900
species and varieties of trees and shrubs growing there although about 3,800 have been
tested. There is also a large collection of herbaceous perennials. In 1899 a catalogue of.
the trees and shrubs which had been tested up to that time was published by Dr.
Saunders and the writer.
To give an idea of how many species and varieties of some of the principal trees
are being tested, it may be mentioned that there are 110 species and varieties of maples,
100 of oaks, 92 of ash, 89 of elms, 66 of spruce, and many of pines.
Canadian trees and shrubs have been thoroughly tested and are well represented.
All of the known species of Canadian trees have been tested with the exception of a
few Western and mostly Rocky Mountain kinds. There are six species which kill out
root and branch, namely, Acer macrophyllum, Arbutus Menziesii, Cornvs Nuttallii,
Quercus gar ry ana, all of which are natives of British Columbia and the western
coast, and the Papaw, Asimina triloba and the Sassafras officinalis from South-western
Ontario. The Button- wood, Platanus occidentcUiSy Sweet Chesnut, Castanea saliva var,
americana, Blue Ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata, and Honey Locust, Gleditschia
triacant?ws, cannot be regarded as perfectly hardy, as some specimens kill back, but
others are hardy to the tip and make good annual growth. Practically all the rest of
the Canadian trees are quite hardy at Ottawa.
Of the 121 species of Canadian trees given by Prof. John Macoun, in his paper on
*The Forests of Canada and their Distribution,' about 100 have proven hardy or half
haitiy, and when all have been thoroughly tested there will probably be not more than
10 which cannot be grown. Most of the mountain species succeed here. The Douglas
fir, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, that magnificent Western tree, thrives well in the Arbo-
retum, as does also the Bull Pine, Pinus ponderosa, another British Columbia ever-
green. Engelmann's Spruce also makes thrifty growth.
Mr. Macoun displayed a number of photographs showing the progress that has
been made in tree culture at the Experimental Farm.
He also called attention to the pine tree on exhibition which in a plantation 1x3
feet apart had made a growth of 26 feet in 17 years.
Digitized by
Google
70 CAN A DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
The Chairman — Mr. Macoun's remarks on the growth of forest trees should prove
to be of great value to those undertaking the planting of forest trees. I think the paper
is a most valuable one.
Mr. Stewart — The Association feel very much indebted to Mjr. Macoun for the
great trouble he has taken in the preparation of his paper, and I am sure that this will
be one of the most valuable papers the report will contain.
Dr. Saunders — Mr. Macoun referred to me for some particulars in regaixi to the
protecting influence of the wood belt, or forest growths, on our North West plains.
We have, as most of you are aware, been carrying on this forestry work for fifteen years
and we have now planted on the Experimental Farm at Indian Head over 1 20,000 trees
and about 75,000 on the Experimental Farm at Brandon. These were planted in very
many different ways so as to test the best methods of growing them. Besides that we
have distributed among the farmers about 1,500,000 of young trees and have sent out
9 tons of tree seeds in 1 lb. packages, so that as the i*esult of this work you find these
small plantations of trees all through the north-west, the result of the work of the Ex-
perimental Farms. I happened to be passing Indian Head some three years ago in the
spring after a very violent storm. Mr. McKay, the superintendent, and I went over
the ground and we found the prot?ctive influence of the forest growth on the plains
there was about 50 feet for every foot in height that the shelter belt grew ; that is to
say, a shelter belt 10 feet high protected about 500 feet wide of field. We had a field
of barley that was sown alongside of one of the belts and other fields of grain at other
points. The protective influence of the belt was very marked. The storm had been a
very violent one and the trees were about 30 feet high and for 760 feet out the grain
was gi^een and well protected and in good condition while beyond that it began to get
thinner and thinner and for a few feet it was entirely obliterated. There the whole
crop was wiped out by the force of the wind blowing the plants out of the ground. VYe
measured this at several points and we found that for each foot of growth there was
about 50 feet of protection. I referred to this in our next annual report but this is a
thing that I think should be widely known — the great advantage that tree growth is
on the north-west plains in affording protection to the ordinary field crops of the country.
The Chairman — Is there any gentleman who would like to ask any questions or
make any remarks in regard to this very valuable paper ?
Prof. Macoun — What is the difference in growth between red and Scotch pine ?
Mr. W. T. Macoun. — We have no large plantation of red pine at the Farm.
They were not used very largely in the belt at the beginning because red pine trees
were not as easily obtainable as Scotch and white pine. . We have however planted
specimens on the farm and the tree does not appear to grow quite as rapidly as the
Scotch pine though it grows almost as rapidly.
Mr. Knechtel. — I have been intensely interested in these papers and I am very
glad to know that the work of planting shelter belts in the North-west has been
attended with such satisfactory results. I remember travelling through Manitoba and
the North-west Territories a few years ago before this planting had begun. I was at
the Experimental Farm at Indian Head and visited also the Experimental Farm at
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY AJSSOCIA TION 71
Brandon. Now, when I was at Indian Head Mr. McKay showed me where he had
planted some seeds in front of his house and then he took me round the pond and he
showed me where the seeds had begun to grow on the other side of the pond. The wind
had blown the seeds out and had carried them across the pond.
I was at the hotel in Regina. Major Bell came down there one morning and he
said to the hotel keeper : * I have some more land.' * Well/ the hotel keeper said, * I
should think that a man with 4,000 acres had enough.' Major Bell said : * I could not
help getting this land because there was a high wind last night and it blew the Exper-
imental Farm over to my property.' The hotel keeper said : * Are you going to keep it ?'
* No,' replied Major Bell ; * the wind may change to-night and blow it all back.'
I was very much interested in Mr. Macoun's paper more particularly because we
have made a large plantation in the Adirondack mountains. Last spring we planted
half a million trees and consequently we are very anxious to know how these trees are
going to turn out. It is an experiment that is of great importance not only to our
state but to other states. I was interested and pleased to have this matter of dense
planting brought out so clearly and so fully. It occurred to me that there were one or
two points that Mr. Macoun did not touch upon although probably he knows all about
them. Some trees send their roots deep and some trees are very shallow rooted. Take
for instance the red spruce in the Adirondacks and it grows very shallow. If you were
to cut away the hard woods very short, as was shown in the experiment, the wind
would very likely blow the spruce over since it is so shallow-rooted. White pine sends
its roots rather deeply. This has been my observation and I believe it is the observa-
tion of most writers. So, you have by planting thickly economy of space, and secondly,
economy of moisture and soil. Then the trees grow differently, as has been brought
out in this paper. They differ in their height. White pine excels the spruce in its,
height growth. Consequently by planting thickly you have an economy of air, space
and light. Light, as you all know, is one of the essentials of tree growth ; the tree
cannot do without it. There is a point, however, I should like to emphasize in regard
to this matter of planting densely, and that is the advantage resulting from the mixing
of species. In our plantation in the Adirondacks we have mixed the species generally ;
we have mixed the spruce with the white pine and we have mixed the spruce with the
tamarack. We have made some plantations of pure stands for experimental purposes.
Our idea in planting white pine mixed with spruce is this : I have observed, and no
doubt many of the gentlemen here who are observers of trees have noticed, that the
white pine, when grown in pure stand, does not clear itself of the lower branches. I
may say this is quite true no matter how thickly they grow. I have in mind the
growths in the Catskill mountains and in the Adirondack mountains where white pine
stands as thickly as it can stand. You cannot make your way through it without a
great deal of difficulty. In these groves the lower limbs of the white pine have died,
being excluded from the light. The dead branches are still there and they are inter-
woven so that it is very difficult to make your way through the growth. By planting
the spruce and the white pine the idea is this : the white pine is a more rapid grower
than the spruce. By the way, we planted these trees about 5 feet apart each way.
The lower branches of the pine as they die will be knocked off by the more slowly
growing spruce. I think you will be led to the same conclusion as I have been if you
will observe the big pine of the forest. These great pines, 150 feet high, clean of
Digitized by
Google
72 CA XA DIA N FORESTR Y ASSOCIA TIOX
branches, 80, 90 or 100 feet high, are not gix)wn in pure stand, but they are grown with
hemlock and hardwoods. I have been very much pleased to know that the Douglas
fir does so well with you. We have planted some of the Douglas fir on the slope 4 feet
apart. We have mixed it also with white pine and we are very anxious to know how
that experiment will result. I might go on and tell you some things about the manner
in which these trees are seeded in the forest and left to themselves, but as I understand
that would be a little bit foreign to the subject immediately under discussion, I shall
close.
Mr. Ross — I would like to ask Mr. Knechtel, what method they follow in planting
small trees ?
Mr. Knechtel — I might state, here, in preface to my remarks concerning that sub-
ject, that we have a proposal from the United States Bureau of Forestry to this effect ; you
will remember from reading the reports that the Bureau of Forestry was employed by the
Forest, Fish and Game Commission two years ago to examine the timber in township 40
in the Adirondack mountains and to make certain recommendations with a view of
keeping there a perpetual forest of the desirable species for use in the mountains, espe-
cially such as white pine and spruce. Their recommendations were that the Commis-
sion cut out the soft woods to a diameter limit of 1 2 inches, leaving the hardwoods and
seed trees of the soft wooded species, and it was thought by them that these trees would
seed themselves in the forest and that as the older growth was removed there would be
the young growth to take its place. Dr. Femow went at the problem in rather a different
way. He had received from the Legislature of our state a tract of 30,000 acres of land
on which he was to show the different methods of treating the forest. On a certain
piece of that land that I have in mind now, he cut out the woods, leaving only a few
trees as shade trees and he left the soft wood trees. The wind came in and blew down
the soft wood trees, and therefore it is a problem to know what to do with the forest.
I may say that I am of the opinion that the soft wood trees, if left to themselves, will
not re-seed themselves sufficiently to keep up the forest perpetually, and if necessary I
can give my reasons for that statement. I put in a month in the forest and was in the
forest every day of the week studying that particular question, and that was my con-
clusion at the close of my work. Now, the Commission has under its charge the state lands
of the Adirondack mountains. There is a large area that was burnt over and some of
^his is almost clean of timber. It was such a tract that we planted last spring. The
fire had swept over there time and again and it cleared a large area of, I may say, all
the timber, although there are a few logs and stumps here and there. The humus has
gone entirely and nothing but the mineral soil left there. We got out plants from
Dr. Fernow. They came to us in wagons. Our plantation is about 12 to 14 miles from
the nurseries of the College of Forestry. We advertised for men stating that we wanted
60 or 70 men to help us to plant trees. We got a force of about 60 men. I had charge
of the plantation myself ; consequently, I presume, I have authority to speak on the
matter. We divided the men into three squads, and for each squad we appointed a
foreman. That left my hands free to attend to this, that and the other thing. I was
not tied up with details. In planting we took strips back and forth across the plain. The
strips were 150 paces across; that is, supposing this desk to be the plain here, we started
at this end and went in this direction. Now, across there the distance is 150 paces.
Half of the men had grub hoes, the other half had pails with plants ; then, we had men
Digitized by
Google
H
6-
33
I
K
PQ
I
OS
o
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 73
to carry plants to these planters, keeping the pails supplied with plants constantly and
we also had water carriers. Now I gave you the width of the strip as 150 paces. We
found that a longer width would not give us such good results as the men liked to see the
end of the row soon because we give them a chance to sit down at each end of the row.
Going across the field we give them three minutes, and when they came back we gave
them five minutes and they got a drink — of water. The man with the grub hoe dug a
hole, the man with the pail came behind and put in his plant, put the soil carefully
around it with his hand and then tramped it down with his feet. The plants were
kept puddled ; the water carriers were required to keep water and soft mud in the
bottoms of the pails so that the plants were kept constantly moist, and we did not allow
the roots to get dry at all. We found that on the average two men could plant about
1,600 trees a day. The Legislature gave us $4,000 for the work, and with that $4,000
we made a nursery in the Catskill mountains for a million seedlings, we made our plan-
tation at Saranac lake, and we have money left to make a nursery in the spring in the
Adirondack mountains. We put in half a million trees at a cost of $2,500, or about
half a cent a tree. I do not know that I can add anything to this. If any gentleman
has any question to ask I shall be only too pleased to answer it if I can.
Mr. Ross — What percentage of trees is living ?
Mr. Knechtel — Last fall there was a committee sent from the Legislature to
examine the plantation and make a report. They were very highly pleased at the way
the trees were li^4ng. It is hard to get an estimate of such a large plantation, but you
can hardly find dead trees. They seen to nearly all have lived.
Mr. Stewart — Through the winter ?
Mr. Knechtel — I do not know about through the winter. Of course, next spring
we shall be able to observe that. I may say in regard to the plantation we made in the
Catskill mountains the year before that we planted about 5,000 trees up the mountain
side with a grove at the top and a grove at the bottom and then four lines of trees
connecting these two groves. Last June I went down there to examine these trees. I
made an actual count. I went up between the rows and when I saw a dead tree I put
down a dot on one side of my note book, and when I saw a live tree I put down a dot
on another side of the book. By this actual count I found that 97 and a fraction per
cent of the spruce were alive, that over 80 per cent of the white pine were alive, and
that 95 per cent of the Scotch pine were alive.
Mr. Stewart — How long after planting ?
Mr. Knechtel — They were planted in the fall of the year, about the 1st of
October, and it was the 10th of June that I made my examination.
Mr. Stewart — They had gone through the winter ?
Mr. Knechtel — Yes, and I made measurements also. I measured 100 trees at
the foot of the mountain to ascertain the growth they had made during the spring. I
measured 100 at the top of the mountain and 100 of each species down the side. I
found the average growth of the Scotch pine was the greatest. If I remember rightly
it was some 9 inches. However, this is rather a cold place, the spring did not open
Digitized by
Google
74 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
very early, and there had not been a great deal of time for the trees to grow. After
they had been planted in the fall there could not be any growth, and it waa on the 10th
June I made my examination.
Col. D. McRae, Guelph, Ont. — Mr. Chairman, I represent the farming part of
the business, and I may say that I have had a little experience in tree planting and a
good many disappointments possibly because I did not know how to go about it. The
trouble, sir, from the farmer's standpoint is, that we do not cultivate the land when we
plant trees. There are two places where we try to grow trees occasionally, and these
are the rough pieces of ground that we cannot do anything else with and along our
fences and roads. In neither case do we care very much to cultivate the land, and the
trouble very largely is that there is too much grass, which, we find, perhaps in the first
or second or third year, is apt to kill the trees. I have been very much pleased with
the paper I have heard read by Mr. Macoun, and I have derived considerable information
from it. I too, sir, have found that the Scotch pine is a very good growing tree. My
conditions are very much those that he said are best adapted to the growth of some of
the evergreens-T-I mean sandy loam. I have been planting on sandy loam with a deep
sandy sub-soil. Norway spruce I find grows very well if planted rather thick in rows.
A year or two ago my trees were attacked by some disease — I dare say some of you
gentlemen know it very well — resulting in the leaves falling off. I removed the dead
trees, but I have still enough left to make a very nice shelter now 30 feet high along one
corner of the farm. I find the white pine doing very well and growing more rapidly
than Scotch pine. I think we ought to encourage more of our farmers to grow the
evergreens if we can manage it. I would like from the professor some experiments along
the line of keeping down the grass without working the ground. I have been trying,
with partial success, mulching. It is very much easier to do a little mulching than it is
to work the ground, and as we cannot always expect to be able to work the land in which
we plant trees, I would like some lessons along this line I am speaking about ; that is the
line of keeping down the grass and keeping the trees alive without stirring the ground.
There is another point that I would like to mention and it is in regard to removing the
dead branches. I wonder if it would pay in a plantation on i*ough ground to go in when-
ever the branches are dead and remove them. I come from a part of the country where
they grow some very beautiful pine. I can remember, when a boy at school, a stump so
large that a six-foot man could not put his fingers and toes over the two sides of it I
can remember seeing twelve twelve-foot logs taken out of a white pine tree before you
touched a branch. I can remember a saw mill in the neighbourhod which for 15 years
had a piece of white pine no less than 6 inches thick, frequently 12, and too wide to go
between the stakes of a wagon. There must have been some very good I'esults in getting
out the branches in the early days. I can remember that the timber never had the
heart of the tree anywhere near the middle, but very much at one side, which is a mat-
ter that is perhaps worth noticing. In trying other trees besides the evergreens I found
fairly good results from the walnut, even growing it from the nut. At Guelph we are
about 1,100 feet above Lake Ontario — the agricultural college is 1,190 feet above the
lake — and we are (juite north and very much higher than the old line of walnut which
we used to think was the line of the old Great Western Railway from Hamilton to
London, but I find that walnuts do fairly well. I have never been able to do anything
with the hickory. Then, we have the elm, but we are troubled with the borer, and I
find that is one of the troubles in growing that tree. However, I should like some
Digitized by
Google
CAN A DIAN FORESTR Y ASSOCIA TION 76
experiments along the line of planting trees on ground which cannot be cultivated and
along the fence lines. I understand that in many parts of the continent they are plant-
ing along the roadways fruit trees with very good results, and I should like experiments
along that line, also as to what varieties of trees are best to cultivate along the road
sides. I have been very much pleased to hear what I have heard here to-day and very
much benefitted.
Mr. W. T. Macoun. — If Col. McRae has noticed some of the photographs that
I have brought, he will have seen some plantations we have established with trees
planted 2^ feet apart each way. The object was to get the trees shaded as rapidly as
possible so as to kill out the grass. A very large proportion of them are really shrubs.
We have used several native shrubs for this purpose. There is one in particular that
does very well, a strong growing spirea (Spirea opidifolia) which is found near
streams. It is a heavy foliage shrub and by planting this among the trees it
shades the ground very early. Then, we have used the box elder which grows
quickly also. It may be necessary on a farm plantation to keep the box elder
chopped back so as not to crowd out other trees. There is a great opportunity for the
Department of Forestry of Ontario to take up the work in that province, of deteimining
the best methods of growing trees on rough farm lands. We cannot do that very well
on the Experimental Farm here, as there is no provision yet, but it will be a good line
of work for the Department of Forestry in Ontario to take up. If I had a farm of
rough land and wished to make a plantation of this kind, I should get good nursery trees
for the permanent trees — either grown by myself in beds, or bought — and plant these
three feet apart each way, and then fill up with young trees from the woods — anything
I could get — and make this a thick plantation even if the trees were only a foot apart,
and then I could ecisily control these trees in the autumn or the winter, cutting out what
I did not want to grow.
Col. McRae. — What would you suggest for evergreens \ Would it pay to remove
them as soon as they die ?
Mr. W. T.- Macoun. — The only advantage in removing them is to obviate the
danger from fire, and also to enable light to get through the plantation easily. Of
course there is always great danger from fire where there is a lot of dead wood.
Col. McRae. — You would cut them at once and remove them from the ground ?
Mr. W. T. Macoun. — Yes, if it were found economical to do so. There is great
danger of fire. In the plantation at the farm we have a large stock of evergreens.
During recent years a great many houses have gone up close to the farm, and people
come in, and there is danger from fire. Last year I had all the dead wood cleaned
out as I thought the danger from fire would be much less.
Mr. Robinson. — In regard to breaking off the diy limbs, if they are broken off as
^hey -become dry, would it not have a beneficial effect in rendering the future growth
clear of knots. We find that the value of white pine varies very much in relation to
its freedom from knots or the reverse, because, as you know, in one piece of pine you
may have different grades from first quality to fourth quality. The fourth (|uality is
full of knots and the first quality goes up 200, 300 or 400 per cent in value. If these
Digitized by
Google
76 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
branches were cleared off as soon as they become dry, would it be better in future
for the growth of that pine, than to allow them to remain and let nature take its course ?
Mr. W. T. Macoun. — I think you will find, Mr. Robinson, that the new growth
takes place between the dead branch and the wood. When the branch becomes dead
the tree does not grow over it. Division takes place and the dead part is separated
from the living wood. I have not gone into the question very thoroughly. Perhaps
Mr. Ross has studied that part of the question.
Mr. Robinson. — Lumbermen have had the idea that a knot in the course of time
gradually absorbs and gets away. We sometimes see a place where we might suppose a
knot had existed as the timber is soft around it, and in other cases we find a small sized
knot near the heart of the tree.
The Chairman. — If a dead branch breaks off four or five inches from the tree and
the tree goes on growing it will be found to have one of these pin knots. That is one
of the reasons why I think if we could cut off dead branches as close as possible to the
trunk we would have more good timber and more clear timber. Mr. Joly has had con-
siderable experience in pruning trees and he might tell us something about it.
Mr. Joly d"e LoTBiNiisBE. — I am sure that my experience will be nothing compared,
with that of the professor and the practical experts who sit beside him. My impression,
whether right or wrong, in so far as coniferous trees are concerned is that it is best
always to trim off the lower branches as soon as I can. I am aware that when planted
in groves and so on the lower branches will die as the heads come together and nature
will do the trimming, but all the same I was under the impression — I think I am yet —
that the centre of the branch is practically in the heart of the tree. In all coniferous
trees the branches start from the heart. That dead branch is foreign matter to the
tree. The tree has to continue growing, and I think as long as that branch remains
the tree continues in its annual growth to envelop that branch. It makes a knot that
is ^oing to remain in the timber so much longer. If it is a big branch it may hold it
for five or ten years and you will have a much larger knot in your timber. Therefore,
the method I pursue in dealing with these trees is always to prune coniferous trees as
soon as I can to the height I wish.
The Chairman.- -Would you prune as close to the sap wood as if it were a hard-
wood tree?
Mr. Joly de LoTBiNifeRE. — Yes, sir, just as close as I could.
The Chairman. — I know that your father insisted that the closer you pruned to the
sap wood the safer it was.
Mr. Joly de Lotbini^ire. — In treating hardwoods when grown in groves, I think
that once the heads come in contact and the branches begin to die from loss of light,
and so on, it is just as well to let nature do her own trimming. The branch gradually
dies off and at a given moment becomes like powder almost near the tree. Nature's
trimming is very often better than any trimming we can do ourselves for the hard-
wood.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FOUhSTRY ASSOCIATION 77
Mr. Ross. — I would like to say a word in connection with the pruning of trees. I
think in this case it is entirely a question of finance. You. must remember that when
these trees are young they are comparatively close together, being at the rate of 5,000
to the acre and there is a very small percentage of these trees that will ultimately become
trees thick enough for timber. Then the question of expense would come in, pruning
these trees. When I had the opportunity of going through some of the forests in Germany,
especially the Scotch pine forests, in one district I found it was their practice to go
through the Scotch pine plantations of about 20 years of age and pick out so many trees
to grow-probably 100 or 200 trees- which from their form were bound to become the
best trees for timber later on. These trees they would prune out as high as they could
get at them for the branches ; the remaining trees were not so pruned and would have
to come out in order to give the trees that were pruned the best chance of growing.
This question of the pruning of the trees does not seem to be practical or economical.
Probably only 200 trees per acre would be merchantable and these trees might be
pruned but I do not think it would pay for the trouble.
The Chairman. — I would like to ask Dr. Unwin to address a few words to the
meeting.
Dr. A. Harold Unwin. — Mr. Chairman. It seems almost presumptuous for me to
express an opinion in regard to the question of pruning trees. I may say that there is
no doubt that no organic connection takes place between the new wood and where the
old branch has been cut off There were some experiments along this line conducted at
Freiburg. I may also mention that in the English market they ask particularly whether
a tree has been pruned, and if it has been pruned the seller gets a less price than is paid
for a tree that has not been pruned.
The Chairman. — Do they fancy that the gum exuding has anything to do with
that?
Dr. Unwin. — Yes, in coniferous trees — gum trees, that of course is the trouble. In
regard to the broad -leaved species, the oaks and the ashes, there, an organic connection
is formed.
Mr. Robinson. — I simply drew attention to the dead limbs. I did not refer to the
green limbs. My question was, whether it would be better to take off the dead limbs
as they become dead or allow nature to do this work and let them drop off. I did not
speak of the trimming of green limbs. I do not think that would be a right thing.
Mr. Knechtbl. — I believe if I were a farmer and had a wood lot and found that
the trees were not clearing themselves propeily I would go in and trim the branches off
and I would cut them close to the trunk. And if I had plenty of time I would go around
and top those wounds with lead paint. That is the dressing that is recommended by
Prof. Bailey of Cornell and he states that it does not make any great difference as to
what month you do the pruning in. Bleeding, he thinks, is not to be feared but he
would put on the lead paint to exclude the fungi that we heard about last evening.
Prof. Macoun. — I would like to say a word or two in connection with the growth of
pine trees. We have a tree here before us that has been grown where they are crowded
together. Those that want timber trees have an object lesson. The thing is plain. If
Digitized by
Google
78 CA XA DIA N FOREST R Y A SSOCIA TION
you want timber trees to do their work properly, the way you .want them to do, plant
them in a way that will do that, and if you want shade trees you will know what to do,
give them space. If you want them for timber trees, crowd them close together, and, as this
gentleman has stated in connection with the forests in the old country, they go through, sw
which are the best and prune them and keep them pruned in order to enable them to make
better growth. • I think that is sound wisdom. I believe it is the light thing, but this is what
struck me more than anything else. That is a Scotch pine (pointing to the tree on exhibi-
tion) and we are told that it is one of the best trees that will grow on any ground. Do you
see the Scotch character in it ? To me it shows that there is a unity between the
animals that live in a country and the vegetation that is produced there. At any rate,
a Scotchman will thrive anywhere and Mr. Macoun showed that this pine will thrive
anywhere ; and if it will do that it is invaluable in a country like this. A point in Mr.
Macoun 's paper that to me is most important is that they have experimented at the
Experimental Farm and that they can state definitely the results, and a man is a fool
that will go and experiment himself until- he tries their experiments. That is the way
to look at this matter. I hold that these men at the Experimental Farm either know
or they do not know, and we should take their knowledge and use it at the start, and if
we find that they are wrong and we are right then we can make a change, but, to begin
at the beginning and think we know it all simply because we have views of our own
seems a piece of nonsense. There are two things that we want in this country. We
want to have the results of these experiments brought out by the gentlemen who read
papers Ijefore us, and then we want reforestation where it is necessary, such as this
gentleman from Guelph spoke of. We want shade trees in many places and we want to
know the conditions under which we can grow shade trees. We have had a very good
exposition lx>th from the gentlemen who spoke and the gentleman who read the paper.
The question to me is why we should allow this information to be given and lost. This
gentleman from the United States has shown the way they work there, that when they
want Uy produce a certain result they do the work in a certain way. We do it also, and
yet there are men who hear these explanations who will go away and begin on the work
in another fashion. Is that right ? It is not, and the wise man is the man who goes
ahead and picks up information everywhere. Now, about North-west growth, what
struck me when Mr. Ross was speaking was this : The Manitoba maple, as we call it,
grows in it« native state in the river valley where it requires an enormous amount of
moisture. We take this tree and plant it as a shade tree or as a standard tree in the
country, and mark you, that is the tree which in its native condition requires the most
water. It grow an enormous amount of leaves, more than any tree I know of for it*
size, it grows very rapidly and it holds an enormous amount of water. I do not mean
to say that it is wrong to plant this tree, but what I mean to say is that this is the tree
of all others that grows in the North-west that requires the most amount of water and
yet it is a remarkable fact that it is used most and succeeds best in that western coun-
try. What we want to do is to study the nature of the tret* and apply its mode of
operation to our work. Now, evidently, Mr. Ross has seen that, and in the plantations
that are being made they are doing this thing ; but to go and put into the country a tree
that is an experiment and that has not previously been experimented with, doing the thing
as an experiment, is a loss of time, so that as we move in this matter here is the way I
can see it. Here is a trt*e that succeeds well in the country under certain conditions.
What are these. conditions ^ Take the elm, for instance, in the Red River valley, in the
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 79
valleys that run away up to Fort Pelly, in the Red Deer River valley and up as far as
Regina the elm keeps up in the river valleys ; that is its home. I have seen the elm
higher than this ceiling in the valley of the Qu'Appelle, a little outside of Regina. There-
fore, all we have to do is to follow the course of nature in the matter and success is sure.
Now, here is an example of .what can be done by planting this tree under certain con-
ditions. One word more and I have done. My remark about conifers is that jthe coni-
fer constantly grows from the point. Set out one in the open, prune out the branches
on all sides and every year the branches are lengthened until a shade is formed. To
grow conifers separately for any other purpose than for ornamental work is absolute
foolishness. For the purpose of growing conifers — I may say pine and spruce specially
— we have to grow them closely together, then the lower limbs die and the others keep
moving up, and then comes the tjuestion of pruning them. I agree with the gentlemen
who say cut off the limbs closely. You will have three or four pin knots in the centre
of the tree but the rest of the tree will be first-class. Hence, I say not only to prune
but to prune closely and then you have all the knots in the centre. I am speaking of conifers
of all kinds because they grow in that way. I am speaking of spruce and all such trees,
because, if you Want to grow them as timber, you must cut them off close because the
knots go right into the centre. The branch of the pine comes from the centre. If you
look at the top of the tree you will find a bunch of buds. Every one of these buds has
its basis in the centre and they form a whorl in years to come, and every one of these is
run into the centre and the nearer you get the limb off in that way the better it is for
the future of the tree.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — About the pruning of black walnut, and I must confine
this tx> this eastern section of the country, where the people are beginning to
take a certain interest in that tree, I said a moment ago that some people had the idea
that the time in which the pruning can be done is more or less immaterial during the
summer, but I can assure my hearers that as far as black walnut is concerned in Quebec
that is not at all the case. The pruning of black walnut here should be done in June,
at the very beginning of the summer, so as to give the callus, the wound that is made,
an opportunity to form itself thoroughly and to mature. If the pruning is done too
late in the summer the callus will form to a certain extent less than if it is done early
in the summer, but the callus will not absolutely mature and invariably it will freeze
hack. I have seen wounds that began with a mere nothing beyond a branch an inch
and a half in diameter being pruned at the wrong time ; in ten years there was a wound
as big as this with a circle marking each yearly growth showing that the callus did not
begin to heal, and as the callus got bigger the wound got bigger. If you prune in
June and prune closely that difficulty is obviated, and I would like ^strongly to urge that
point on all gentlemen here in respect to black walnut. Prune as early as possible in
June and as closely as possible.
Prof. Macoun. — I have a remark to make that is applicable to our city and I
would like the officers of the Association to take the matter up. To-day any one can go
up to Theodore street and look at the lovely trees that are up there. A man in con-
nection with the electric light company, or some othei* company, comes along and cuts
the limbs of these trees and destroys them, makes them an object lesson for all time to
come to anybody coming to the city. You can go and see that to-day. I would ask,
^ir, is it not the duty of this Association to aim at the beautifying of our cities as well
Digitized by
Google
80 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
as the beautifying of our country districts. Are we going to allow irresponsible men to
destroy our shade trees ] If I put up sliade trees in front of my house and wait for a
certain number of years for them to grow, and some ignorant irresponsible men come
along, quietly climb up into my trees and cut the tops off in any way it suits them, not
to prune them but to destroy them, is there no remedy for it ? If there is no remedy
then it is our duty as a society to pass a resolution here, send it to the city council and
show that we are alive to the beauties of our city and that we are alive to the destruc-
tion of the beauties of our city. I am speaking now of Theodore street where the trees
have been destroyed within the last two or three weeks by irresponsible men. Nobody
says anything about it. How do I know that they will not come to-morrow and cut
down some of my trees ? I hope the committee on resolutions will draw up a suitable
resolution ; let us pass it this afternoon and lay it before the city council demanding
that this pruning of trees— not the pruning, but the absolute destruction of trees — shall
be stopped. I am speaking of this particular case now, I could show a hundred similar
cases, it is going on all the time, and we say nothing about it.
Mr. Johnson. — T think there is a law in connection with this*aiid it is that every
person undertaking to prune these trees, or destroy them as the case ftiay be, must have
authority from the city council, so that it is not the irresponsible individual who is
cutting them down but it is the householder who is to blame if he does not apply to the
city council to obtain a stay of proceedings if he believes that his trees are going to be
destroyed. I made some inquiry in respect to the cutting of trees on Daly avenue
where they have absolutely destroyed them. They had not even the grace to
take the twigs away but they left them on the street for the next snow storm
to cover them up, and they are there and will be there in the spring. I found that
there was a certain amount of remedy, but certainly I agree with Prof. Macoun that
we ought, as a society, to pass a very strong protest so that we can put a little back-
bone into the city council. There is where we have to put the pressure.
Col. McRae. — I know of a case that occurred a short time ago. Only two weeks
ago I was visiting a friend in Fort Rouge, a suburb of Winnipeg, and he showed me
some trees that had been pruned by men under the direction of officers of the city council.
When these men began the work my friend's wife telephoned him and he came home very
angry and got them stopped. He then sued the City of Winnipeg and got a verdict.
The council carried it to the Court of Appeal, but the householder won and it cost the
City of Winnipeg several hundred dollars for the pruning of three trees.
Pn)f. Macoun. — If the city council are a set of ignoramuses it is our place to teach
them their duty and to enlighten them in the matter. I am not going to plant trees
and wait for 20 years to see them come to something and then have a fool from the City
Hall coming and cutting these trees down. As you know, we do not put our best men
in the city council ; we usually put the men there who want to go.
Mr. Robinson.- -If any of the gentlemen here are interested in the growth of pine,
I might mention that there are two blocks which I have placed on the desk showing the
growth of pine in a locality not far from the city of Ottawa. The growth shown there
has taken place within 36 years and by putting the two blocks of wood together they
show a tree of 21 inches in diameter, although from the way in which these blocks have
Digitized by
Google
X
« I ^"
< »3 M
< S S
e < K
« .<3
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 81
been cut they do not actually represent the diameter of the tree, which is greater than
that. To gentlemen who are interested in the growth of pine in this country these
blocks will show what can be accomplished. They are two blocks, I, myself, picked out
of a large amount of cordwood, and were grown on the Island of Allumette, on the
Ottawa River. They are of second growth.
At 12.30 the meeting adjourned until 2 p.m.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The Chairman called upon Mr. Stewart to read a paper prepared by Mr. James
Leamy, Dominion Crown Timber Agent, New Westminster, B.C., on * Forest Protec-
tion in the Railway Belt of British Columbia.*
Mr. Stewart said : Mr. President and Gentlemen, you will have noticed on the
programme that we have been trying to have leports from every province especially
regarding the timber and methods of fire protection. Unfortunately the paper from
British Columbia was not received until about 12.30 p.m. to-day and as Prof. Goodwin,
who is down for a paper on * Forestry Education,' will not be here for some little time
I am going to read this paper that should have been read yesterday. I may say that
Mr. Leamy is the Crown Timber Agent for the railway belt in British Columbia and has
charge of the fire rangers in the Dominion belt, which is a tract 40 miles in width, 20
miles on each side of the C.P.R. through the Province of British Columbia. Over that
territory the Dominion has control ; outside of it the province has control of the timber
and therefore the Dominion Forestry branch has nothing to do with that.
Mr. Johnson. — You have charge of the 40 mile belt ?
Mr. Stewart. — Yes, the 40-mile belt ; that is 20 miles on each side of the C.P.R.
There were a number of very destructive forest fires last year both in Washington and
Oregon. I have a number of clippings from papers which show the amount of destruc.
tion, but I shall not take time to read them all. I shall, however, read a letter from
Mr. Leamy, because it is a very important one on account of the very trying time they
had last year and on account of the important work which Mr. Leamy did in protecting
the timber. He says under date of New Westminster, B.C., 28th February, 1903 : —
* Dear Sir, — I have endeavoured to comply with your request in submitting a paper
to be read before the Canadian Forestry Association at their annual meeting. I have not
had sufficient time to study the matter out carefully, owing to the great pressure of
business, but have tried to do the best I could under the circumstances.'
However, I think the paper will show that it is well worthy of attention. Before
reading the paper I will read one or two clippings from American papers giving some
idea of the immense destructipn both to timber and farm property as well as the loss of
life in Oregon and Washington last year. 1 will just read the heading of a despatch
published in the Seattle Post Intelligencer on Sunday, September 14th, 1902 : — 'Twenty
lives are lost in fire swept regions. Cowlitz county adds a dreadful list, including many
human victims and property damages reaching large proportions.'
I cannot take time to read the account of it, but there are some other clippings here
that I shall refer to. The number of acres actually burned over, according to one report
6
Digitized by
Google
^ CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
I have here, is 434,000 distributed in three counties. Then I quote from the DaUy
Meveille, New Whatcom, Washington : —
* It is the opinion of Mr. Cox, after tracking many of the fires to their origin that
most of them could have been extinguished before they became serious. The lesson
taught is that had there been an efficient system of forest patrol in these localities it ia
doubtful if any very serious fires would have occurred.' Tlien again : —
* After a careful trip through the regions devastated by the fires, Mr. Wm. T. Cox,
who was detailed by the Bureau for this work, in a conservative estimate places the
damage in Oregon and Washington at $12,767,100. Of this $3,910,000 is in Oregon
and $8,857,100 in Washington. This includes all losses caused by the fires to farm
property, saw-mills, manufactured lumber, standing timber, <fec/
I have another clipping giving an account of the damage on Vancouver Island.
Then it gives the list of the dead in Cowlitz county and of the destruction which took
place there. Speaking of a man who sought safety in the river, it says : — ' While im-
mersed in the river, he saw one of the grandest but most appalling sights in his life.
Great balls of fire would roll up like cannon balls,' said he, * and then burst with a mighty
report. I have never heard a noise to compare with it,' he remarked. As soon as the
fire had passed over him, he rushed to a neighbour's house and found that the family had
been driven from home and escaped death.'
Here is something that bears very closely on what has been discussed here during
the session. It is a clipping from a paper, but I cannot tell the name of the paper, and
it is headed * Preserve the Forests.'
* While there are enormous areas of very fertile land awaiting occupation by the
settler in different parts of the Dominion, there are also large districts which are unfit
for agricultural settlement, but which, if held by the country as timber lands, may be
made to yield large and constant revenues. The rational and common sense view that
the country should endeavour to make the best use of the heritage it possesses in its landed
property, by directing the settlement of its best agricultural holdings where success in
farming is easy, and retaining the poorer classes of land for timber growing, has not
until recent years taken possession of the public mind. The wholesale destruction of
foresl properties by a lack of management and by destructive fires has aroused public
attention and the wisdom of a better policy has become so apparent that the tide of
public sentiment has set strongly in its favour. Hence, governments now have the
backing of a large majority of intelligent people in every movement they make towards
a rational policy in the treatment of a most important part of the country's wealth,
which may with proper handling be made to yield a large annual income.' Then the
next paragraph is just in line with one clause in our constitution : —
* Non-agricultural lands should be retained as forest reserves, and every effort should
be made to protect the timber from destruction by fire. By careful selection of the
timber these forests may be preserved for all time. Efforts should also be made to
reforest some districts where the timber has been destroyed, or which are only lightly
timbered, such, for instance, as the sand hill districts in Manitoba. There are other
forest areas which should be preserved on account of their value as watersheds, in hold-
ing the flood waters back, and for their influence upon the climate of the country. The
destruction of the watershed forests would be nothing less than a calamity to the
country. The effect of the destruction of such forests would be to cause alternate floods
and drouth.'
Bearing on this, is an article from a Vancouver paper signed by Mr. T. F. Paterson,
who is well known in that part. The heading is : * Comparative Immunity in B.C. —
Work of Mr. Leamy and his Assistants is Appreciated.'
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 83
To the Editor of The Columbian,
Sir, — By recent reports it would seem that millions of dollars worth of timber has
been and is now being destroyed by fires in the States of Washington and Oregon. Many
of the forest timber limits have been almost totally destroyed, entailing heavy losses on the
mill companies owning them. In contrast with this state of affairs, hardly any forest
fires have occurred in British Columbia this year. This fact is largely due to the vigil-
ance of the timber commissioners and their staff of fire rangers. During a dry spell,
the timber lands within the railway belt are exposed almost continuously to fire. Although
locomotives are required by law to be provided with spark arrestors, there is great dan-
ger from the sparks which escape the best kind of arrestor. Then tramps, who make
the railway their highway, are making fires from time to time, and the timber agent and
rangers have to be continually on the lookout for them. The government ^nd owners
of timber have much to thank Mr. James Leamy and his staff of fire rangers for, and
too much praise cannot be given for the good work done by the Dominion Timber Agent
for his vigilance in preserving the forests under his authority from fire during this period.
On behalf of the Canadian Pacific Lumber Company, Limited, of Port Moody, I desire
to extend our best thanks to Mr. Leamy for his efforts to preserve the timber lands
under his charge, and I trust he will continue to put forth the same efforts in the future
as he has done in the past to preserve the timber of this country. Sgd., T. F. Paterson.
Forest Protection in the Bailway Belt of Britiflh ColumbiaM
Jas. Leamy, Dominion Croum Timber Agent, New Westminster, B.C.
In accordance with the request of Mr. Stewart, I have much pleasure in submit-
ting to the Forestry Association a short article on timber protection. The article in
question must necessarily be brief, owing to press of work and lack of time for
preparation.
As is well known, the great destroyer of our timber is fire, which works vast
destruction and large areas of tho forests have been totally devastated thereby. Fires
are principally caused by settlers in the clearing of their lands, prospectors in search of
minerals and campers on fishing and hunting excursions. They are caused also by
sparks from locomotives and by lightning. From these various causes extensive fires
occurred during tjie past season in the province of British Columbia, — that is, in the
Kootenay country, on the western coast of the mainland, and on Vancouver Island.
More extensive fires also occurred in the neighbouring States of Washington and
Oregon. The loss of timber in these states is beyond computation. The papers there,
in estimating the loss of timber caused by these fires, claim that the supply of timber in
the Pacific States will be exhausted in less than forty years, and are strongly advo-
cating that prompt measures be taken for the prevention of fires and reforestation to
partially meet the losses that have resulted therefrom. They are likewise considering
the proposal of adopting a system of fire wardency, such as we have in force in the
Railway Belt in the province of British Columbia, thereby, as imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, showing their appreciation of and belief in the efficacy of the fire ranging
system. In this province of British Columbia, on provincial lands, the loss of timber dur-
ing the past season from fire was very considerable. There has been no estimate placed on
the quantity burnt, but we may safely conclude it was very great, principally in the
Kootenay district, where a large area of merchantable and young and growing timber
was destroyed. On Vancouver Island the fires were also very extensive, but, owing to
the difference in the size of the timber the fire would not be so destructive as that in
the Kootenay. The larger timber in the Vancouver Island districts through which the
fire ran will be available for use, although touched by fire, for some years to come. Its
great size and thickness of bark saves it from much injury, while, in the interior, the
Digitized by
Google
84 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
timber being smaller and the bark much thinner, if not utilized within a year it is a
dead loss. In the Kootenay district, as far as I can ascertain, the fires were caused
largely by prospectors. In the forty-mile belt in the pro^nnce of British Columbia, under
the jurisdiction of the Dominion Government, there were very few fires, none of which
were at all destructive, with the exception of one fire which occurred on the Beaverfoot
River on a limit owned by W. C. Wells. This fire was started by one of the employees
of Mr. Wells, whom he employed as a watchman on the limit in question, but through
his carelessness in setting fire to a quantity of rubbish about the camp when a strong
wind was blowing the fire got beyond his control and burned, it is estimated, about a
million or a million and a quarter feet of timber at most. Mr. Wells promptly closed
down his mills and turned out all his men and succeeded in putting out the fire before
any great damage was done. The merchantable portion of the timber is not lost, as it
will be taken out by Mr. Wells this season and manufactured into lumber, but a large
quantity of young and growing timber was <lestroyed by the same fire which would have
been of merchantable value in about twenty years' time. In my opinion, formed from the
experience of the past three years in endeavouring to prevent fires in the timber lands
in the railway belt in the province of British Columbia, I find that the fire wardencj
system has been of great benefit, and, so far, has been productive of very good results,
as very little timber has been destroyed in the railway belt by fire during that period,
while quite extensive fires have occurred in districts not being looked after by tire
rangers. The fire rangers have been very active in attending to their duties, and seem
to grasp the situation thoroughly. They first ascertain where any clearings or slashings
for the purpose of clearing land have been made. They call on the parties who have
made slashings and notify them of their liability, under the Bush Fire Act, if they s-^t
fire in such slashings and allow it to get beyond their control. This, to my mind, has
been very successful. The thinking men amongst the ranchers — that is, the more intel-
ligent class of the farmers realize the disadvantage to themselves in having the valuable
timber in their neighbourhood destroyed. It is always a source of revenue to them to
have lumber camps working in their vicinity, as they are able to sell their produce and
obtain employment for themselves and their teams in the logging camps during the
winter season, and I find that those people are ever ready to notify the fire rangers
when a slashing has been made that, to their mind, would be dangerous if not properly
looked after, thereby being of great assistance to the rangers in the prosecution of their
duties. Prospectors are the most troublesome class that we have to deal with. If they
have an idea that there is any mineral in a range of mountains or hills they will, during
the dry season, start fires whereby the surface of the ground may be burnt clear of
vegetation so that they can the more readily trace any mineral deposits which they
think may exist in that locality. The rangers in the eastern part of the belt, where a
great deal of prospecting is being done, pay close attention to the going and coming of
the prospecting parties. They get information from the different points where
prospectors are in the habit of outfitting, and when they hear of a party starting out
they call on the leaders of the party and furnish them with copies of the Fire A ct, and
call their attention to their liability in cases of fire set by them which may cause any
damage, and also notify them that they are keeping watch over them. In fact, during
the past two seasons I cannot see that any fire in the railway belt has been directly
traceable to prospecting parties.
The officials of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company are taking a deep interest
in the preservation of the forests, and are endeavouring to carry out the regulations as
set forth in the Fire Act.
I may also say that the danger from the sparks from locomotives has been greatly
lessened of late years owing to the fact that they are now using coal burning engines
that do not throw as much fire from their smoke stacks as the wood burning engines
did. The Great Northern Railway, which runs into the province of British Columbia
from Blaine to South Westminster, opposite this city, have their engines equipped ^^ith
sprinklers with which they can dampen, if necessary, any portion of the track which
they are passing over, particularly the superstructure of the wooden bridges. They
have also an arrangement whereby the cinders in the ash pan underneath the fire box of
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 85
the locomotive can be dampened before dropping the same on the track. This damping
arrangement extinguishes any fire which may be in the cinders in the ash pan, thereby
reducing the danger from fire from that source to a minimum. ' I would respectfully
suggest that your Association should endeavour to impress upon the government the
necessity of passing such legislation as would compel the various railroads operating in
districts where fires are liable to occur, to adopt the Great Northern system, or a better
one, if it can be devised. There have been no fires in this province which can be trace-
able to the Great Northern road, owing to the manner in which their engines are
equipped.
In the prevention of forest fires in my judgment no system can surpass that of
having a sufficient number of competent fire rangers to look after the forests. The men
should have had practical experience in the woods and a knowledge of how to fight fires,
construct fire breaks, &c., and should know their district thoroughly. They should be
put to work during the month of May, posting notices, going through the district
allotted to them, informing themselves as to the amount of slashing done and inter-
viewing the parties engaged in clearing lands, cautioning them as to their liability
should any damage arise from fii'es set by them, ascertaining what prospecting parties
are out or liable to go out, interviewing them on the subject of fires and their liability
for any damage which may happen through their carelessness or neglect in not extin-
guishing their camp fires when breaking up camp and setting fire for the purpose of
burning oflP the surface of the ground in order to enable themselves to more easily pros-
pect for minerals.
In regard to reforestation I am pleased to be able to say that through the railway
belt in the province of British Columbia and, judging from that, I would say that all
over the province, in parts that were burnt out some years ago, a new growth of timber
has arisen, thickly covering the districts in question which, if pi-operly protected, will
produce this result, thereby relieving the country at large of the expense of replanting,
and I would recommend very strongly that in the districts in which this new growth is
showing the ground should be carefully gone over and selection be made of land that
is not suitable for agriculture and that it should be reserved for timber, and these
timber reserves be carefully guarded and not thrown open to settlement, and within a
reasonable time the reserves in question will become of immense value to the
country at large. Since I have been looking after the forestry interests in this pro-
vince I am particularly struck with the value of the new growth of timber which I
have mentioned.
With regard to legislation for the prevention of fires, the Legislature of British
Columbia in 1896 passed an Act for the prevention of forest fires. This Act, after pro-
viding for the establishment of fire districts, enacted that it should be unlawful for any
person to start fires between May and October, in or near any woods, in a fire district
except for the purpose of clearing land, cooking, obtaining warmth, or for some indus-
trial purpose ; and in the event of a fire being set for any of these excepted purposes
certain precautions should be observed. These precautions, so far as related to the
clearing of land, were altered in 1902, and as the Act now stands, any fire started for
clearing land during the prohibited period, shall be constantly watched over, managed
and cared for by the person setting it, and every reasonable care and precaution shall
^ taken to prevent its spreading. The Act also provides that when a fire is started in
or near the woods in a fire district during the prohibited period for cooking, obtaining
warmth, or for industrial purposes, a sufficient space shall be cleared around it, and it
shall be completely extinguished before it is left. A further section provides that in
any prosecution the burden of proving compliance with the Act shall be upon the
defendant.
The first point deserving attention is that our legislature has provided with regard
to fires for clearing land, that they shall be watched over and cared for regardless of the
question whether they are set in or near the woods. The reason of this provision is
manifestly because fires for clearing land are usually of considerable magnitude, and
may, unless carefully watched, spread far beyond the land on which they are originally
set out, and readily assume proportions which render them difficult to control. Such a
Digitized by
Google
86 CANADIAN F0RE8TR Y A8S0CIA TION
fire set, say a mile or two from the woods, may under favourable conditions, e.g. a strong
wind, readily travel over the intervening ground and growing as it spreads, do enormous
damage when it enters the forest.
The Act is so worded as to make it unlawful to set such a fire, unless it is con-
stantly watched and guarded, and every reasonable care taken to prevent its spreading.
The only difficulty lies in being able to show that the fire itself has been started by the
accused ; once that fact is established, it becomes his duty to satisfy the court that he
has fulfilled the requirements of the Act in constantly guarding it, and has taken all
reasonable precautions in preventing its spreading. But unfortunately in the sparsely-
settled portions of this province, where fire is resorted to as an agent for clearing land,
it is extremely difficult to produce evidence to show that the accused set the fire.
Witnesses can be obtained to prove that the fire started on the accused's property, but
that is not sufficient ; as the Act now stands, it must be shown that he set it. In the
summer time, too, a considerable number of the people living on these clearings in the
woods, are absent from their holdings ; and this increases the difficulty. The mere fact
that a fire is seen burning on a man's property is not evidence that he set it. It may
have originated in a hundred different ways. In such circumstances it would seem
that an amendment to the Act, providing that every one on whose land a fire is started
shall be obliged to satisfy the court that such fire was not set by him, and until he does
that the mere fact that the fire commences on his premises shall be evidence that he
started it. This would mean that the owner of land if he did not start the fire could
readily satisfy the court, by showing that he was elsewhere, or that it was started by
campers or others. The origin of every fire is a matter peculiarly within the knowledge
of the owner of the land, if he is living on it. The most indefatigable fire ranger cannot
stand guard over each individual, or each piece of land ; the fire ranger cannot, in the
nature of things, know anything as to how the fire occurred ; he can ascertain that it
commenced on A's land ; but he cannot give any evidence as to how it was started or
by whom. Rarelv does he reach the spot until the tire has assumed large proportions.
He may suspect that the fire was started by A, but suspicion is not proof.
It cannot be a matter of difficulty for A, upon whose land the fire started, to show
how it did commence ; to satisfy the court that he did not start it, and if he did start
it, then to satisfy the court that he took all reasonable means to prevent its spreading,
but failed. The Act already provides that he. A, shall give evidence to satisfy the
court that he took all reasonable precautions ; what can be wrong in going one step
farther and making A show how the fire commenced as well I
I submit the foregoing points for your serious consideration, with the hope that
your Association will take such steps as may be necessary to secure more vigorous legis-
lation concerning forest fires, in order that the great and valuable timber areas of this
country may be saved from the immense destruction that has hitherto prevailed.
Mr. Stewart. — ^There is just one item here in a letter written to Mr. Leamy by
one of his agents that I intend to refer to and then I hare finished. He advises, very
much in accordance with the Act in the State of New York, the establishment of two
classes of fire districts and that it be made prohibitory to start a fire between July 15
and September 15. I am very much obliged to have had the opportunity of reading
this paper. It is one of great importance. Perhaps some of the members of this
Association were not aware of the destructive fires that occurred in Washington and
Oregon and that right adjoining in the railway belt the writer of this paper, who de-
serves more reward than he has received, succeeded by his efforts in preventing these
destructive fires from passing into the Dominion territory.
FORESTRY EDUCATION.
The Chairman. — The next paper we have on our programme is one on * Forestry
Education ' by Prof. W. L. Goodwin, School of Mining, Queen's University, Kingston,
Ontario.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FOBESTJiY A8S0CIA TION g7
Prof. Goodwin. — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, when I was asked to prepare a
paper on Forestry Education to be read before this Association, I gladly consented
because it seemed to me that this would give an opportunity to bring before the Asso-
ciation the subject of a formal and regular education for the training of foresters and
others. It may be interesting to know that while I am connected with the Mining
School and devote myself pretty largely to education, I am not altogether without prac-
tical experience in lumbering. In my early life I have followed lumber all the way
from the stump to the ship, I have surveyed limits, cut down trees, and even planted
trees, which was a very rare thing in those days, and altogether I grew up in the lum-
bernkan's atmosphere, so that, as I have said, I am not without practical experience.
This may give me some title to discuss with you here this afternoon the subject of
forestry education.
Forestry Education for Canada.
Professor W. L. Goodwin, Queen's University, Kingston.
There are still, it seems, a few people in Canada who are not convinced that the
time has arrived for us to take steps towards a proper system of forestry, i.e., * utilizing
the forest and at the same time perpetuating it \ * The question is one of supply and
demand. In other businesses the law of supply and demand can be trusted to bring
about the conditions for a balance pretty rapidly, but in the case of the wood supply the
adjustment is so slow that irretrievable damage may be done before the community is
convinced that the supply has been reduced below the mark. An instructive example
of this is the present condition of the United States with regard to white pine — not
one year's supply in sight. The whole diflSculty may be simimed up in the inability of
the average man to realize that it takes a hundred years to grow a tree which may be
cut down in an hour. The forest is so much capital accumulated for our use by natural
processes extending over hundreds or even thousands of years, as in the case of the
great sequoias of the West. Capital must be kept in circulation, earning its annual
increment. The forest is a crop to be used. Some eight years ago, I read a paper on
forestry before a club of which I am a member, and put the case so badly that I was
accused of advocating a system which would leave the whole country covered with trees.
But that is not the intention of advocates of a system of forestry. There must be a proper
balance between the area reserved for forest. and the population of the country, for while
a few thousand men could go on making money by cullmg out the best trees from half
a continent, and there might be no end to this, if the forest is to be completely and
economically utilized there must be people enough in the country to use at home the
by-products of the forest, the small stuff, the poorer kinds of woods, &c., in fact the
material which is not valuable enough to pay freight for any considerable distance.
Thus lumbering is the only thing for a new sparsely-settled country the greater part of
which is covered with forest ; and the ordinary lumbering methods must prevail until
the point is reached where it can be said that the forest capital is sufficiently reduced
to be workable as capital earning its income. In this necessary process of reducing the
capital, serious mistakes can be made and have been made in Canada. It is a rule of
the forest business to reserve for permanent forest purposes (1) lands not suitable for
agriculture, (2) lands on watersheds, <&c., for protective purposes, and (3) lands suitable
for the preservation of game. Two or all of these purposes may be and are served
together. It is only necessary to take a journey through some of the neighbouring
counties to see how badly we have managed in our choice of lands to be cleared of their
forest covering. The bare rocks with great pine stumps standing on them attest our
lack of foresight. The sand-swept farms of Prince Edward accuse us. The early and
*B. E. Femow— Twelve Tbeies on (Allege Forest Management.
Digitized by
Google
88 CAhADIAN FORESTRY ASSOC! A TION
destructive spring floods in many of our rivers bear witness against us. Even if it is
granted then, that we still have plenty of forest and to spare, it is quite evident that, as
pointed out in the President's address, we should have our forest areas carefully surveyed
and mapped out by men who understand forestry, so that those parte may be set aside
which are to remain permanently as forests.
And this should be done at once, before more mistakes are made, mistakes which it
will take centuries to repair.
But there is strong evidence that we are within measurable distance of the balance
referred to. Thirty or forty years ago pine was selling at$12to)(16 per thousand B.M.
This comparative uniformity means that only the best pine was brought out of the
woods. At present, pine is quoted at from $15 to $60 and a few choice lots have gone
as high as $65. This wide range of price is due to the fact that the poorest lumber now
finds a market as well as the best, the price of the latter having gone up 400 per cent
in forty years. The average size of logs tells »the same tale, pine logs going down (1887 to
1893) from an average of 122-5 B.M. to 985 and other kinds from 79 to 57 feet B.M.*
Forest lands are increasing in value at a very rapid rate. I know of one case where a
sale was lately made at an advance of over 100 per cent twelve months after purchase.
All these things and many xxiore often cited point to the hastening on of the time when
we must stop using up our capitaL The circumstances of Canada are peculiar in some
respects, so peculiar that they should decide us to consider seriously whether it is not to
our advantage to devott? unusually large areas to forest purposes. In the first place we
have perhaps an linusual proportion of land suitable for nothing else. Our long winters
afibrd the best opportunities for harvesting the crop, our unique system of waterways
gives cheap transportation to market ; and, lastly, our impoverished neighbours to the
south will buy all we can produce over and above our own needs, not to speak of the
markets of Europe.
But will forestry pay ? This is in some respects a difficult question to answer. It
depends upon the sense in which the word * pay ' is used. That it pays in the long run
there can be no question. The 35,000,000 acres of German state forests produce a net
revenue of $1.80- an acre, equal to a net annual income of $63,000,000 ; and both capital
and income are increasing. This is after some 150 years of forestry management; but
the records show that the state forests have yielded a fair income from the start. Dr.
Fernow told us recently in Kingston of German municipalities which paid all taxes and
even declared a dividend from the profits of their carefully managed forests. In other
European countries with less perfect systems of forestry, the net revenue per acre varies
from $6.02 (Russia) to $1.05 (France). In our own case there can be no question that
the introduction of forestry would reduce the large profits of the present system ; but it
cannot be too often repeated, these profits represent for the most part capital being
eaten up. Ontario at piesent gets about a million and a quarter dollars of annual
revenue from her great forest areas. Compare this with the sixty-three millions of
Germany I Of course the lumbermen's profits should be taken into consideration, but
they cannot be fairly placed over against the net income of the German forests, which
represents only the profits on the annual growth. The total value of their forests is in-
creasing, while thai of ours is rapidly decreasing.
I realize that there are great difficulties in the way of introducing a system of
forestry into Canada, but the greatest difficulty is our failure to realize that in this as in
other activities we must keep the distant future in view. The generations to come are
ever in the purview of the broad-minded man, -we are active for our sons and our sons*
sons. Business foresight of the best kind should lead us to go in for forestry, even al-
though the goal is a hundred years away. But on the whole, the subject is one for
the state and the statesman. The Act of Confederation is just now beginning to give
us its ripe fruit of national aims and sispirations. We have grumblingly waited since
1867 for these fruits foreseen by our great statesmen of that time. The idea had to grow
slowly like the tree. Who will be our statesmen in forestry ? * The basis of all great
modern industries is on scientific principles.^
* Report of the Forest Wealth of Canada, Ottawa, 1895.
Digitized by
Google
o
o
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 89
But if we are to work into a system of forestry suitable to Canadian people and
Canadian conditions we must have forestry education to train the small army which will
be needed to manage, oversee, protect, and reap the forest crop. It will never do to
depend on other countries to supply us with such men. Self-respect and good judgment
forbid it. A review of what has already been done in Canada for forestry education
will clear the way. In 1882 the American Forestry Association met in Quebec, and since
that date Sir Henri Joly de Lotbini^re, Wm. Little, A T. Drunmiond, Dr. Robert Bell,
Professor Macoun and many others have done much to educate public opinion. Since
1891 the Ontario Bureau of Forestry has collected statistics, diffused information, and
improved fire protection. During these years forest reserves have been set aside by
several provinces, and most of the provinces have established forestry branches or bureaus.
The Dominion Department of Agriculture has done good service in the person of Dr.
Saunders. The organization of the Forestry Branch of the Department of the Interior
in 1899 is another mark in the rising tide of popular education. This Association,
organized about the same time, has been a strong educative force. The cultivation and
care of trees has for a number of years formed part of the course at Guelph. My own
interest in this subject dates from Dr. Femow's lecture before the Royal Society in May,
1894. I brought the subject before the Senate of Queen's University and convinced
that body that something should be done in forestry education ; but there were then no
funds in sight for the purpose. Later the subject was taken up by the Board of Governors
of the School of Mining, who engaged Professor Femow to lecture to our students and
others in January, 1901. At the same time the Act of incorporation was amended so as
to include forestry among the subjects of education. Last month this step was followed up
by a course of lectures by Professor Femow, the first course on forestry given in Canada.
This course attracted a good deal of attention, and the interest in forestry seems now to
be widespread. The lectures are being published and will have a large circulation through-
out the Dominion. One result of these lectures has been to determine several of our stu-
dents to make forestry their profession. In order to do this they must complete a course of
study ; and our Board of Governors have determined to go forward next session as far
as circumstances will permit them to make provision for such a course of study. The
wherewithal is the only puzzling circumstance. Forestry is a branch of engineering.
The best authorities on the subject, including Professor Femow, consider that its theo-
retical study is most advantageously carried on at a university where other branches of
engineering are provided for. These conditions are fulfilled in Kingston, another justi-
fication of the intention of our Board.
But it is quite plain that the mere opening of a school of forestry in Canada would
not cause fifty or a hundred young men to seek its walls the first session. There is no
great thirst for forestry education yet. The very meaning of it is just beginning to be
known throughout the land, and forestry as a profession would be looked upon as very
problematical by our practical youth. The conditions are somewhat similar to those
prevailing some ten or fifteen years ago in mining, when the men who were studying min-
ing engineering could be counted on the fingers. Now there are over two hundred
students of mining engineering in Canada. When the school of mining was opened at
Kingston nine years ago, the outlook for students was not more promising than it is now
for forestry. To create the demand for such education was our problem. It was solved
by three means: (1) Short courses for practical men (prospectors and others), held in
January and February. These attracted many students, some of whom entered upon
and completed a four years' course and are now practising as mining engineers. (2)
Summer mining classes in mining camps and other centres. These classes have been
found so valuable and popular that they are still being carried on, an annual appropri-
ation for that purpose being made by the Ontario government. Students have been
attracted to longer courses in this way. (3) By exploring parties of students and others
interested, under the guidance of professors. In all these ways education in mining
has been popularized, and the supply of educated men has created a de7na7id for them,
so that, at this date, graduates have no difficulty in securing employment.
The provincial and Dominion governments have helped on this movement by adopt-
inj( in part a policy which they might well carry out in toto, v4z., reserving for stu 'ents
Digitized by
Google
90 CANADIAN FORESTRY A8S00IA TION
of this class the minor positions on survey and exploring parties, and other scientific
work carried on during the summer.
The educational problem in forestry is precisely like that just described, and a
somewhat similar course will lead to the same results. There are large numbers of men
now engaged in Canada in the care of forest areas. Some of these could be gathered to
the school every winter for short courses of a simple and practical character, but
scientific enough to open their eyes to the larger fields beyond. The professor of forestry
would spend part of each summer in visiting places where forest interests are large. He
would by lectures and class instruction spread the idea and arouse the interest of young
men looking toward a scientific profession. Squads of men could be instructed every
summer in the practical details of forestry, by assembling them on the forest reser\'e in
charge of the school. Provincial and Dominion governments would naturally adopt the
policy now pursued in the United States of employing students in the summer on their
forest reserves and survey parties. But, it must be remembered that the great majority
of ambitious and able young men in Canada are almost too poor to bear the expense of a
scientific education. * Earning their way ' is undoubtedly a fine discipline, but it is
often too severe a trial of endurance, and I have sometimes seen it fatal. There is
another way — a ladder of learning. Great Britain is now pouring out her wealth in
scholarships for this purpose. The Dominion might well make an annual appropriation
to defray in part the expenses, at the school of forestry, of a certain number of students
from each province, the selection to be made by a matriculation examination, or in some
other way which would secure the ablest students. Fellowships or scholarships could
also be awarded to the best graduates, in the form of appointments to certain junior
positions in the departments of Forestry (Dominion and Provincial). In this way two
purposes would be served, (1) Graduates would be initiated into their profession, and
(2) The country would secure in time a corps of finely educated and practically trained
men to work out our problems in forestry, irrigation and drainage. Private owners
would, as in the United States, soon see the advantage of employing such men as
managers of their forests ; and the profession would thus become an established one.
The profession is a most attractive one. Opening up of careers for sons of lumber-
men. Change of present method to permanent family inheritance.
Most European countries have a system of forestry education, including forestry
facilities in the universities and polytechnics, special schools for the lower class of
foresters, and forestry instruction in the agricultural schools. In Germany and Austria
there are ten special forest academies in addition to the forestry facilities in three
universities and two polytechnic institutes. These ai*e for the education of the forest
engineers. For the lower grades of foresters, there are twenty special schools. Provision
for Forestry education is also made in India, Russia, Japan.
Sir James Grant. — Mr. Chairman, I should like to make a few observations. I
may say in the first place that I desire to congratulate this Association on the admir-
able work that they are engsiged in. Some twenty years ago I had occasion to bring
up this subject in the Parliament of Canada and it was pretty elaborately discussed. I
say, I believe at the present time there is no more important subject than that of
forestry before the people of Canada. The forests are a source of revenue to this country
to a very great extent, and this is made additionally apparent when we contrast the
lumber resources of Canada with those of the American Republic and consider the very
important fact, as announced by Prof. Femow, that the revenue accruing to the
American Republic from the output and sale of lumber is upwards of $1,000,000,000,
which is more than the revenue accruing from the whole of the mineral interests of that
country. It is very many times more than the result of the whole of the wheat crop,
it is more than the revenue derived from the operation of the whole present railway
system of the United States ; and when we read the papers which have been produced
by Prof. Fernow and the excellent department at Washington on the subject of forestry,
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 91
we cannot help admiring the great accuracy and intelligence that he has displayed and
brought before the world on this very important subject by studying the question in the
great centres of Europe, in Holland, in Belgium, in Brussels, in Russia, in France and
in this country generally, and we find the whole subject is now receiving the most care-
ful consideration in order to determine what can be accomplished towards the preserva-
tion of the life history of our forests. Living in the valley of the Ottawa, as I have for
many years, I have on many occasions had my attention called "to the very serious cir-
cumstances which have transpired in our valley resulting in immense destruction to our
forests by fire. Let me say that I believe there is one circumstance connected with
this question which is of vital importance and it is that the Government should not
bring immigrants into our country for the mere cultivation of a small patch of land
of a few ax;res when the presence of these individuals must result in encouraging the
production of fires which spread into the surrounding forests and destroy millions of
dollars' worth of valuable property. This whole subject is worthy of the most serious
consideration. Those who are interested in the Department of Immigration and who
are encouraging immigrants to go into certain sections of the country have the impera-
tive duty imposed upon them to see that the necessary supervision is placed over these
sections where these immigrants are allowed to settle, in order to use every means to
stay the destruction of so valuable an asset as the lumber territory of our country. We
know, again, that there are many important points connected with this whole subject of
forestry and I am very much pleased indeed to have listened to the observations that
have come from Prof. Goodwin to-day, inasmuch as he i& connected with Queen's Uni-
versity, of which I happen to be a trustee with Sir Sandford Fleming, here to-day. I
think that Queen's University was the first in the Dominion of Canada to establish a
department of forestry for the education of the young men of our country who, in going
forth can at once get employment, because this is a practical department concerned with
the economy of our country by the saving of this vast territory that we have throughout
the length and breadth of the domain of Canada. As Prof. Goodwin has told you to-day,
no sooner have these young men graduated from Queen's than they are given employ-
ment, while the other professions of our country, such as law and medicine, are crowded
to overflowing. Here is a department, sir, in its initial stage that has been established
for the young men of our country who can go out from it and at once obtain employ-
ment, who .by the exe^xdse of their mcAtahandphyMoal: powers will be aUe^to guideand
direct those '^v^'b)^ dealing with the. imfflABflevfoisfiBts of Caiuula. Again let me say,
this subject is one of vast importance. The exposition given to us last night by Prof.
Jeffrey, of Boston, was of an admirable character.
The Chairman. — Prof. Jeffrey is a Canadian ; I want you to mention that.
Sir James Grant. — Prof. Jeffi*ey of Boston is a Canadian — I believe a graduate of
Toronto University, but, like many other Canadians, he is occupying a position of trust
and responsibility in the great Republic. I am very much pleased to know that the sons
of Canada come to the front in that country. The exposition given to us last night was
one of an extremely high standard, and it is extremely gratifying to me to know that
this subject is being guided and directed by the leading men of this country, because it
is a department in which a great deal of practical work has yet to be accomplished. The
Hon. Minister of the Interior, Hon. Clifford Sifton, last night made some admirable
remarks upon the subject and I was glad to know that he had applied to Parliament
Digitized by
Google
92 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
for a grant for the purpose of promoting this work. I am pleased beyond measure to
know that a forestry branch of the Department of the Interior is now inaugurated and
being carried on in the capital of Canada under his wise and judicious supervision.
When we remember that only three or four years ago there was actually more
lumber destroyed in British Columbia in one season almost than the whole cut of that
country since they first commenced to use lumber on the Pacific slope, we will at once
appreciate the importance of forest protection. How is this destruction brought about I
It is brought about largely by the fires instituted by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and
I hope the day is not far distant when they will see the desirability of taking such
action as will tend to prevent the spread of these fires and the destruction of our forests
which has been so graphically brought before us to-day in the paper of Prof. Goodwin.
I have very little more to say than to congratulate Prof. Goodwin and other gentlemen
in this meeting on the admirable work of the Government of Canada in the planting
of trees in the North-west Territories. We^are aware of the fact that that country,
notwithstanding that it was stated in the House of Commons thirty years ago that
it would not grow a blade of wheat owing to its temperature, produced 80,000,000
bushels of wheat last year, and, as Prof. Macoun can tell us here to-day from his own
knowledge, that the planting of trees in the North-west has done much to modify
the climate conditions of the country. It is quite true that the building of railways,
the planting of trees, the putting up of telephone and telegraph poles, and the cultivation
of the soil have so modified and changed climatic conditions that the western country
which was looked upon thirty years ago as a frozen territory to be known now as the great
fertile belt of the North American continent', is going to produce more cereals than Great
Britain will require for her people. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to be here
to-day, and with these few observations, inasmuch as I know you have a noble work on
hand, I wish you every possible prosperity in carrying out the aims and objects you have
in view.
The Chairman. — We heartily thank you for the address you have given to-day.
May I ask Sir Sandford Fleming to say a few words ?
Sir Sandford Fleming. — Mr. Chairman, I have listened with a great deal of
attention to what has been said to-day, and as I simply came here to be a listener I
shall ask you to excuse me from making any remarks.
Mr. J. H. Faull, Toronto. — Mr. Chairman, I have listened, I may say, with great
pleasure to the address of Prof. Goodwin to-day, and we are all glad to know that our
universities are beginning to wake up to the interests of forestry education throughout
our countiy. Prof. Goodwin has outlined to us very clearly the work that has been done at
Queen's University, and I am very happy to say that Toronto University has likewise
taken some steps towards giving a training in forestry. The subject has been under
discussion now for two years, or more than two years, I am not positive at this moment,
but it is only within the last year that the matter has taken something like definite
shape. The reason for this has been that in Toronto University there are several
important interests which have to be consulted, and one of these important interests is
that of agriculture. The agriculturists have their college at Guelph under the control
of the provincial government, and in order to meet the necessities of forestry in relation
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 93
to agriculture there has been perhaps some conflict of interests. However, that matter
has been settled and in the arrangement, Toronto University has decided that the
Professor of Forestry who will be appointed will be enabled to give instruction to the
formers who come from the agricultural districts throughout the province, in addition
to giving scientific training to young foresters. It is also interesting to know that
some of the best of our scientific students of Toronto University have already made
application, just as Prof. Goodwin has pointed out in connection with Queen's, to take
the course in forestry as soon as it is inaugurated. We hope it will be inaugurated
as soon as the curriculum has been drawn up and presented to the Senate and the Senate
have passed upon this curriculum. When this is done all that is needed is the whei*e-
withal. We hope that will come very quickly. I may say, as far as this course is
concerned that it will be a three years' course. The first year's course will embrace
subjects now taken up in our general science course and will lay a broad scientific
foundation. The following two years will be devoted to more technical subjects ; the
second year to forest botany, zoology, surveying, chemistry, physics and geology, and
ultimately, work in forestry. At the end of the second year instruction will be ghreii in
one of the reserves, in which the students will come into practical contact with the forest.
The third year will be given over almost entirely to the practical study of the subject
under the direct supervision of the Professor of Forestry, who will, we hope, be a man
thoroughly well-trained, who understands his subject from the practical standpoint after
yeai's of experience, and at the end of the third year the students will again be taken
out into the forest and their training completed. I am glad that the subject has assumed
such importance and that the universities are waking up to the necessity of giving
instruction in it. Moreover, it is. hopeful for the cause that this Association realizes
the importance of scientific training in the subject.
Mr. Stewart. — Mr. Chairman, I may say I am very much pleased to find that the
universities of this country are taking an interest in the subject for this reason.
When organizing the branch in connection with the Department of Interior it was
necessary to have some assistants, and the first assistant, Mr. Ross, was formerly in the
North-west Territories, but had studied at a British school and at Biltraore Forest
School, and also had the opportunity of seeing forest conditions in Germany, but he was
chosen particularly for his knowledge of this country. It is only within the last few
days that we have added to the staff a gentleman who has served his time in Germany,
at Munich, taken his Doctor's degree, and who arrived only a few days ago — I refer to
Dr. Unwin, who is here to-day. Though these foreign universities no doubt give a capi-
tal technical training, it takes some httle time for a student, no matter how well trained >
to learn the conditions of this country. For that reason, if we had foresters here they
would naturally have the preference in any case in any province, and they certainly
would as far as I am concerned. We have had a great many applications from Germans
and others, but we have endeavoured to get British subjects. Mr. Ross is a British
subject, Mr. Unwin is an Enghshman who has studied in Europe. I am very glad
indeed to see the universities starting into this work, because they will furnish us with
young men who are acquainted with the conditions here. I remember when I first
began to try to work up a system of forestry in this country, that I stated to the Minister
that for us to adopt the systems in operation in Germany, or Belgium, or any other Euro-
pean country in toto would be unwise. I said that it would be as wise to transplant all
Digitized by
Google
U CANADIA N FORESTRY A8S0CIA TION
the trees of that country here and expect them to thrive under the conditions prevailing
in this country. It is a matter of very little difference to the Government whether
Queen's University or Toronto University furnishes the students, but it is a matter of
very great importance that they be acquainted with the conditions of this country, and
it will be, of course, very desirable to get a training in the country.
The Chairman. — We have with us to-day Dr. Finnic, of Montreal, a delegate from
the North American Fish and Game Protective Association. I would ask Dr. Finnic
to say a few words to us.
Dr. FiNNiE, Montreal — Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I am glad to have this oppor-
tunity to say a few woi^s before my hour for leaving at four o'clock. I may state, at
the meeting of the North American Fish and Game Protective Association, held in this
very chamber in January last, I was appointed a delegate to represent that association
here and to convey to you our kindly feelings towards the work you are engaged in.
As you know our work is the protection of fish and game, and naturally our work leads
us to the point where we take a keen and practical inter^t in your work of protecting
our forests. The fact the aims of these two associations are so much alike, that the
identity of interest is so strong, prompted us to send two delegates to the meeting of this
Association. I find that I am the only one here today. I assure you that we have
always realized what a magnificent work you are engaged in, remembering that its object
is the protection of our forests. To a man who is interested in the woods, it is a sad
sight to see these immense stretches of burnt country which confront us on all hands.
I am sure I express the sentiments of our association when I say that we wish you every
success in your noble work, and if there is anything we can possibly do in our associa-
tion to further that work, we will be only too glad to do it. I only regret that I was
not here yesterday to hear the various papers which were read, but those that I have
had the opportunity of listening to to-day, have been very instructive indeed. I hope
your Association will go on and prosper. I feel, in looking over your report, that instead
of your membership being a few hundreds it should be up in the thousands. If the
general population throughout the country knew about the work you are doing, a great
many more people would certainly wish to become members. The community should be
instructed how serious a matter it is to leave burnt embers about a camp fire. If your
Association had the means to have suitable reading matter distributed freely throughout
the country, it would be a great factor in educating the people on the subject of forestry.
I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, for the opportunity of
expressing the kindly feelings entertained by myself and the members of our association
towards you.
The Chairman — Dr. Finnie, would you kindly convey our thanks to the Fish and
Game Protective Association for sending a delegate here and for their very cordial
greetings as expressed by yourself. I would ask Dr. Unwin to address us.
Dr. Unwin — Mr. Chairman, I am very much gratified indeed to hear what Prof.
Goodwin had to say on the forestry question. I think in his introduction to his address
that he touched upon cme of the most salient features of Canadian forestry. At the
present time the lumbermen are very largely using up their capital, but in the settled
portions of the country, particularly of this province, the time is coming when only the
interest on the capital will be used and not the capital itself. On the subject of forestry
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 95
education I may say that I have had a long course of training, and I was gratified to
hear Prof. Goodwin say that he favours university training on this subject and that pro-
vision has been made for imparting instruction at Queen's University. In Germany
forestry education is of two kinds, either at the separate forestry school or at the uni-
versity, and I think I am in a position to speak regai'ding the education imparted under
these two systems. There is no doubt that the university course is by far the better.
In the first place it gives a man a broader outlook, and in the second place a great
point in its favour is that it is considerably cheaper as there are many general subjects
which the student of forestry must have, which, if given at the separate school, require
additional professors, but which, if given at the university, do not entail any additional
expense and are as fully available for the students. Prof. Goodwin also mentioned that
the course would be a four years one. This seems to be a very reasonable term. We
need not copy the German system where the course extends over seven years. It must
be borne in mind, however, that the forester cannot be made at the university. After
all it is in the forest that the forester is made.
The Chairman — We shall now have a paper on * The Eflfect on Fish Life of Saw-
dust in Rivers,* by Prof. Knight of Queen's University, Kingston.
The Effect on Fish Life of Sawdust in Bivers. ,
Prof. A. P. Knight, QueerCs University, Kingston, Ont.
Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I shall not read anything to you this afternoon,
but give you briefly and hurriedly the results of some experiments with sawdust and the
effect of sawdust upon fish life which I have been conducting for the past two years —
not during the whole of the year, but during the summer months. I shall begin by
dropping a little fine sawdust into tliis jar of water before me, and those of you who are
interested in the rate at which sawdust sinks, and think you know about how quickly
it sinks, might just take out your watches and look at them and see how long it will
take for that sawdust to reach the bottom. While it is sinking I will be talking about
something else and so shorten my address somewhat. I began this work at the sugges-
tion of Professor Prince, the Commissioner and General Inspector of Fisheries for
Canada. In 1899 he asked me to undertake some work of this kind, because, he said,
although legislation had existed against throwing sawdust into our rivers for over forty
years, we were really quite ignorant of what the exact effects of sawdust are on fish life.
I began, therefore, two years ago, at St. Andrews, N.B. My first experiment was this:
I captured three or four brook trout, I put them into a tank and covei-ed it with cheese
cloth so that they could not get out, I had a stream of water right in the brook in which
I caught the trout and I turned this stream of water into the tank containing the trout
*nd which also contained a large quantity of sawdust. I kept them there for three
weeks and when I took them out they were quite as lively as when I put them in.
One-third of the tank was full of sawdust, so that I concluded that as far as brook
trout were concerned they were not damaged by a large amount of sawdust provided a
fresh stream of water was flowing all the time. That was my first experiment. During
*he past summer — a year ago now — I conducted further experiments in the laboratory
*t Queen's University, and I will give you an idea of these experiments. The early
*onea were just of this character (calling attention to the jar on the table) and were just
intended to ascertain how rapidly sawdust sinks. I do not think it has been over three
nunutes since I put that sawdust into this jar and you see that at least 75 per cent of
it has sunk to the bottom of the vessel and the vessel is quite still. That was a sur-
prise to me when I first made that experiment. Then I conducted experiments as to
the sinking of sawdust of different kinds of woods — white pine, Norway pine, white
Digitized by
Google
96 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOGIA TION
cedar, British Columbia cedar, hemlock, spruce, ash, elm, oak. I found that oak sank
more quickly than any of them, next white pine, and that after that they varied as to
the rapidity with which they sank because the conditions varied. I found that fine
sawdust sank more rapidly than coarse. The coarser elements take longer to sink be-
cause the water does not permeate them as quickly. When I touch the jar you see
they sink more rapidly. I had to make hundreds of these experiments. I have no
theories, — I am giving you the facts. I may say that as to the sinking of sawdust the
general result was that from 50 to 80 per cent of all kinds of sawdust sank in from two
to three minutes, but the rapidity with which each kind sank varied with different
conditions, first, for instance, the fineness or coarsenes of the sawdust ; second, the kind
of saw with which the sawdust was made. The big mill saw made sawdust that sank
more quickly than sawdust made with a hand-saw. It also varied greatly as to the kind
of jar in which it was put. You may put it in a perfectly quiet vessel and then into a
vessel to which you give a slight jar with your finger, and you will notice a difference
in the rapidity with which the sawdust sinks. In any case, however, 50 to 80 per cent
of the sawdust sank in from two to three and from five to eight minutes. The speed at
which the sawdust would sink would, of course, be modified out in the river, and I will
speak of that separately, because, after I had conducted experiments in the laboratory
for three months I went out to the river.
My next experiment was this : I took an ordinary aquarium tank about 3 feet long,
16 inches deep and 15 inches across. I got a bag of cheese cloth holding about a peck of
sawdust. I put the sawdust into it and sank the bag to the bottom of the aquarium,
the aquarium being filled with 16 inches of water. In 24 hours afterwards, in fact, in
a few hours (but it was more marked in 24 hours) there came out from the sawdust a
yellowish-brown liquid with a perfectly defined and clear-cut surface to it. The water
above remained perfectly clear. There were about 14 inches of this clear water above
and about 2 inches of the yellowish-brown liquid at the bottom and in the neighbour-
hood of the bag.
I went out one day and secured a number of perch eggs. You see the first ques-
tion is the effect of sawdust on fish eggs, then its effect on the food of the fish in their
young state, upon the food of the adult fish, and lastly, upon the fish themselves. So I
got some fish eggs first. I put the fish eggs on top of the bag, in the clear water, and I
put some of them down in the very bottom of the aquarium where they were mixed
with the yellowish-brown water. In a few hours afterwards I examined them under a
microscope. Those in the yellowish-brown water were dead, while those in the clear water
were living. I repeated that experiment many times, then I took equal parts of clean
tap water and the yellowish-brown water, making a 50 per cent solution ; I then added
the eggs and I found that they died similarly. 1 made a 25 per cent solution and got
the same result only that it took a little longer to kill the eggs. Then, I gathered all
sorts of material such as we know adult fish live upon, crawfish, tadpoles, aquatic
worms and animals of that sort, put them into this yellowish-brown fluid and every one
of them died without any exception, and that, not in a few hours, but in a few minutes.
I captured perch and rock bass and they died in from two to three niinutes in this
strong yellowish fluid. The Department of Marine and Fisheries sent me, by Mr. Hal-
kett, some black bass fry taken from a pond in the neighbourhood of Belleville. About
100 were sent. These would live two or three minutes in the yellowish-brown fluid
and then they would die. So that the eggs, the fry, the food of the adult fish and the
adult fish themselves were all killed in this strong solution.
Then I thought it would be interesting to get some comparative results if I
could, as to the poisonous effects of white pine sawdust compared with red pine and
hardwoods, and I performed this experiment. I took two grammes of each of the dif-
ferent kinds of sawdust, white pine, red pine, elm, ash, oak, maple, hemlock, spru(»,
hemlock bark, white pine bark, red pine bark and cedar bark, and I put them into dif-
ferent sized vessels. I put two grammes into a vessel containing 300 cubic centimeters.
I do not know whether I should translate these weights and measures into the English
or not. As I said, I put two grammes each into a vessel containing 300 cubic centi-
meters, into one containing 400 cubic centimeters, into one of 500, into one of 600, 800,
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOGIA TION 07
900, 1,000, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,700. I put aU these vessels on tables and allowed
them to stand 5 or 6 hours. Then I immersed minnows and black bass fry in each of
these vessels, for each different kind of sawdust, and I noted carefully how long each
animal lived. I expected, of course, that the most poisonous woods would kill the most
quickly. The results of my experiments were these : White pine was of all these
woods the most poisonous, aod the next, British Columbia cedar. If the Dominion laws
permit much of this cedar sawdust to go into the small streams, the results may be a
little rough on British Columbia salmon. The third most poisonous is our own white
cedar, and about equally poisonous are hemlock bark and oak bark. I found the hard-
woods — maple, elm, ash, spruce, hemlock, the wood, not the bark, to be about on a par.
But, as I said, white pine is the most poisonous, British Columbia cedar the next, our
own cedar next, and along with it, cedar bark, hemlock bark and oak bark. The hard-
woods I found to be very slightly poisonous. I kept minnows in the hardwood sawdust
for six days and then liberated them. In the white pine sawdust they were killed in
from five to eight minutes. In the strongest solution, that is the two grammes in a
vessel of 300 cubic centimeters, the minnows would die in from ^ve to eight minutes,
while in the vessel containing 1,700 cubic centimeters with two grammes, they would
die in about half an hour with white pine sawdust. In the red pine sawdust solution
they lived from half an hour to two hours ; in the cedar, from half an hour to three and
a half hours in the weakest solution ; and in the case of the hardwoods I kept them for
a number of days — five to six days — and then I liberated them. My general conclusion
was that the hardwood sawdust could not be considered very poisonous. You must
remember that these were very strong solutions and if the legislation prohibiting the
throwing of sawdust into streams and rivers were based upon such experiments as these,
that is, a large amount of sawdust in a comparatively small amount of water, in which
all fish life would be killed, the legislation would require no better justification.
Now, the next point that I tried to elucidate, was, this : What are the effects and
results of decaying sawdust ? In the case of decaying sawdust I left the sawdust in one
of these aquariums for three months, noting the changes going on from day to day. At
the end of four days gas was given off and the coloured solution came out just as usual
covering the bottom two inches deep. Gas bubbles were coming to the surface, not to a great
extent, but they kept coming at the end of a week or ten days. At first the fourteen inches
of water at the top was clear and perfectly harmless to the eggs, the fish food and the
adult fish. But at the end of a week or ten days this water as well as the yellow water
at the bottom began to kill the fish, but for a very different reason. This water began
to kill them because the oxygen was taken out of it. In the newspaper criticisms of
the results of my experiments published in the report of the Department of Marine and
Fisheries for 1901, one of the papers, the Montreal Witness, stated that the poisonous
effects of sawdust were due solely to the fact that the sawdust took the oxygen out of the
water. That is not true as regards the yellowish-brown water. The poisonous effect of
the yellowish-brown liquid is due to the poisonous material dissolved out of the wood cells
and the wood fibres. I was glad that Prof. Jeffrey lectured on wood structure last
night, because his lantern slides brought out vividly the minute structure of wood.
When certain materials, notably turpentine, resin and tannin, are dissolved out from
wood cells they kill adult fish, fish eggs and fish food.
But it is quite different with the uppermost fourteen inches of water. In a week or
ten days this water, which was originally clear and harmless, killed the fish because the
oxygen was taken out of it. You want to know how I proved that. Well, I took out
some of the clear water in which the fish had died ; and I made the air bubble through
it and when I bubbled the air through it for some minutes, it ceased to kill : the fish
lived on and were quite comfortable and active in it. You want to know how I know
that this yellowish liquid at the bottom was poisonous and that the oxygen had not any-
thing to do with its poisonous effects. Well, I syphoned off some of this liquid, put it
into a bottle, and when I put the fish eggs or young fish into it, they both died no mat-
ter how much air I bubbled through it.
As time went on the water that originally was clear above became very dark slate-
coloured. The windows of the laboratory were open and at the end of May and in June
7
Digitized by
Google
98 CANADIAN FOB^STRY ASSOCIA TION
mosquitoes came in, laid their eggs in the water, and mosquito larvae that most of us
used to call * wigglers ' became very abundant in that particular part of the water. A
microscopic examination showed that the water was teeming with bacteria. The mos-
quito larvae were living on the bacteria. They would leave the top and go down to the
bottom, remain there a little while feeding and then come up to take a breath. The
bacteria were living on the wood extracts. They were there in immense numbers and
the mosquito larvae were living on the bacteria. I drew off some of the water and put
it outside of the laboratory where the sun could get at it, knowing that sunlight kills
bacteria. It kills some bacteria and it also stimulates the growth of other bacteria.
Between the sunlight, the bacteria and the wind, in the course of a few days, the water
became fit for minnows to live in and I put some minnows into it and these minnows
began to eat the mosquito larvae. So, you see we have this chain of nutritive relations,
minnoAvs living on ths mosquito larvae, the mosquito larvae living on the bacteria, and
the bacteria living on the liquid which oozed out from the wood. The only bit of
Canadian literature I can get about bacteria in our rivers is a report by Mr. McGill,
Public Analyst, Inland Revenue Department, who, a few years ago, analyzed the
Ottawa River water and the Rideau River water. The literature which he published
in connection with his work contained some determinations of the number of colonies of
bacteria which he got from the Rideau River, and there were immense numbers of them.
He found that, generally speaking, the more vegetable matter there is in water, the
more bacteria are present. Different kinds of bacteria produce different diseases, but
there is an immense number of bacteria that do no harm to man or beast and a small
number of them are useful in industrial operations such as cheese making, butter
making, the manufacture of ale, beer and wine and in fermentation generally. 80, you
see, there is no mystery about finding bacteria in sawdust water ; there is nothing
unusual about the fact that bacteria live on the wood extracts, and the wood extracts
are there anyway. The same process is going on in our forest streams. Rain and
melting snow running through leaves and branches carry vegetable extracts to rivulets.
All our forest streams have immense numbers of bacteria-in them in the pui-est water.
I do not think there is any doubt as to the conclusion here : bacteria live on the vege-
table extracts ; insect larvae live upon these bacteria ; and young fish live upon the insect
larvae.
It occurred to me, in the next place, that I ought to go out into the forest and see
what I could learn there. I was able to go to one stream only, the Bonnechere. I
went to the Bonnechere River where there is a sawmill that has been running for a
number of years, and up to two years ago it threw all the sawdust, edgings and slabs
into the river. For a mile below the mill, the river is crammed full of old edgings,
slabs, rejected shingles, lath and sawdust. I went up there as a result of my laboratory
experiments, expecting that I should not find a solitary fish alive, because the Fish
Commissioner of the Province of Ontario, in his report for 1899, said that there could be
nothing more destructive of fish life than the depositing of sawdust in the rivers and lakes.
It is quite true that Prof. Prince in this same year in his report told us that nobody had
been able to bring forward one case to show that fish life had been killed by sawdust.
So, you have the two doctors, one in the province of Ontario and the other in the
Dominion service, taking diametrically opposite views on this question. Well, I went
out to the Bonnechere and I will just indicate what I found. To my amazement almost
any hour of the day I could walk for a mile up and down the river and catch fish, pike
and trout — brook trout that are supposed to be so sensitive, that they turn up their
noses at anything not quite to their taste. They are far more sensitive, according to
some people, than human beings are. Mr. McGill, when he made his analysis of the
Ottawa River water in 1892 as the result of a resolution passed by the Montreal City
Council calling on the Dominion Government to stop the mill-owners throwing their
sawdust into the Ottawa River because it was polluting the water, concluded, and he
was backed up by the chief analyst, Mr. Macfarlane, that the sawdust did not do one
particle of harm to the water so far as the water is used by human beings, but, of course,
fish are far more sensitive and delicate and they turn up their noses at water that you
and I could drink without any gastronomical difficulty whatever. We have then either
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTBY ASSOCIATION . 99
to admit that they are not injured by the relatively small amount of sawdust that goes
into the water, or that if they are, they are far more delicate in their organization than
human beings, and this is absurd. I quite agree with Prof. Prince ; I do not believe that
any healthy adult fish has ever been killed by sawdust passing into any waters. I want
to qualify that •statement. I am familiar with the Ottawa from Ottawa to Montreal,
and with the Bonnechere River. I am speaking of these two, but I do not say that
there are not conditions in connection with other rivers which might make the sawdust
poisonous. I am reminded of a letter I got front a gentleman in Peterborough in which
he said : ' I do not agree with your theory at all.' I am not speaking of a theory now ;
I have simply giving the facts. He said : * I know better ; I know that sawdust does
kill the fish,' and he went on to give some facts in connection with the Otonabee River
which I do not doubt, because I do not know. In the meantime, I am speaking about
the Bonnechti-e River. I got from the proprietor of the mill an estimate of the amount
of water passing his mill in 24 hours, and he also told me that his mill cut an average
of 375 logs per day. I got from leading lumbermen in this part of the country, like
Mr. Booth, the Hawkesbury Lumber Company, Mr. Edwards and others, their
estimates of the percentage of a saw log that goes off in sawdust. Then I made a cal-
culation of the percentage weight of 375 logs that went away in waste as sawdust, not
taking slabs and edgings into account and I expressed that as a percentage of the
weight of water passing in 24 hours and I got '004. In the laboratory experiment in
which the fish lived longest in the weakest solution with pine sawdust, the percentage
was -16. That killed adult fish in an hour and a half. If my figures are correct and
the percentage w^as -004 of sawdust thrown into the Bonnechere at that point, there
was nevertheless 40 times more water for the fish than I had in my experiments when
I found it to be fatal to the fish. That is the reason I am quite positive in saying
that, so far as the Bonnechere River is concerned, I do not think fish life, eggs or
fish food are injured in the slightest degree ; but we have to take conditions into account
in different rivers. Further investigation along other rivers is necessary. This much,
however, is quite clear, the question of whether any particular stream is polluted with
sawdust is simply the question of determining whether the quantity of sawdust thrown
into the stream is sufficiently great to poison the water. In other words, it is a ques-
tion of the strength of the sawdust solution — a comparatively small quantity of saw-
dust in a large river will do no harm ; whereas a large quantity of sawdust in a compa-
ratively small stream might kill eggs, fry, fish food, and adult fish.
Prof. Macoun. — Prof. Knight's paper is the most extraordinary paper I ever
heard until he came to the climax. 1 was perfectly satisfied that sawdust in the rivers
was a very serious matter and in three sentences he upset all my previous opinions. I
consider his paper the most valuable of the various papers I ever heard given on either
this subject or any other one. He showed you exactly what took place. He led us to
see and believe that fish life could not exist under certain conditions and he winds up
by telling us that our rivers are perfectly safe, and any one who followed him will see
that he is perfectly right. Now, the question is : What is the meaning of this paper ?
Is it to upset all our old views, or it is to widen our minds so that we can see that what
>^e see is not so and that what we hear is not so 1, That is the question. A man that
is half educated knows too much, a man that is thoroughly educated is a master an^ he
knows exactly what he is doing and he sees the ultimate in all these things. A man
who is only partly educated sees only a part and he believes too much. Prof. Knight
has shown us to-day that with the great volume of water our rivers, into which sawdust
is thrown, are perfectly safe for fish life. He assumes that our rivers, although impreg-
nated with slightly deleterious matter, are perfectly safe for drinking purposes and fish
production. He has given me so much light on this subject that I can almost see the
whole question. Up to the present, I confess, I only saw one part of it, and that was
7i
Digitized by
Google
100 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
that throwing sawdust into the river was an unmitigated evil. I believe that still as
far as the contamination of the water is concerned, but I cannot believe that it is so
destructive to fish as I formerly believed to be. I think the paper is an exceedingly
valuable one;
UxFiNisHKD Business.
Mr. Campbell. — I beg to move the resolution of which I gave notice in regard to
the proposed change in the date of the meeting. Our constitution requires that we
should meet on the first Thursday in March. This date clashed with the meeting of the
Canadian Mining Institute, to which meeting a number of gentlemen wJio would be
interested in our Association wish to go, and as that is an older institution than ours
and one in which the members of the Geological Survey staff are very directly interested
and wish to attend, thereby being prevented from attending our meeting, I propose this
change. One of the members of the Geological Survey staff spoke to me about the
matter and said that he was anxious to attend the meetings of our Association but that
he had never been able to attend one of them tm account of the Mining Institute meeting
at the same time. He asked me if it were possible to make a change in our date, in such a
way as to accommodate them. Therefore, in sending out the notice of this meeting, I
put in a notice that a motion would be submitted providing for a change in the date of
the meeting, and in the early part of this meeting yesterday I gave notice that I would
move : ^ That clause 7 of the constitution be amended by striking out the word " firet '
in the second line thereof and inserting the word " second ".'
So that the clause will read : The annual meeting will be held on the second
Thursday in March, at the City of Ottawa, etc.
I do not know whether there will be any objection to the change.
Mr. Robinson. — I think, perhaps, the reason for fixing the date we have in the
constitution was that Parliament would be pretty sure to be in session, and that there-
fore we would have a greater attendance at the annual meeting.
The Chairman. — That is so.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I fancy that our meetings are not always held at
Ottawa. As we propose to hold them at other places a change of the date of the annual
meeting may be rather immaterial. I believe this is the time to state where we will
hold our next meeting. It may not be at Ottawa. We may change our place of
meeting. I trust we will for the next two or three years, so that the date perhaps is
immaterial.
• Mr. Stewart. — Notice has been given in accordance with the rules of the constitu-
tion that a certain motion would be made to change the date of the annual meeting.
I do not think that there can bi any objection to changing the date for a week. I wish
to offer a suggestion and it is this : We have been meeting in Ottawa every year since
the association was formed. I am of the opinion that it would be well to change around
occasionally and I would like the opinion of some of the other members, and the reason
I have is this : Probably the impression will go abroad that this association, instead of
being a Canadian association, is an Ottawa association or that it is connected with
Ottawa. In order to get over that and to enlist the aid and sympathy of a larger num-
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 101
ber of people I think it would be well to change the place of meeting for next year, and
I would like to have the views of some of the gentlemen here on that point. 1 was
thinking of the city of Toronto if the members from Toronto think well of it, I would
like to have their opinion in any case, and if they think that we could have a good
meeting there I would suggest this change. Mr. White and Mr. Southworth are here
and I would like to hear their opinion on the subject before making any motion.
Mr. White. — Mr. Chairman, I am quite satisfied that we would have a very
successful meeting in the city of Toronto, and I think, in educating the people of Toronto
and the vicinity in the subject of forestry we would be doing a valuable work. The
general public do not take very much interest in this question because they have no
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the valuable information which is being
disseminated at this meeting. I think if the meetings were moved about from time to
time, as has been suggested by Mr. Stewart, each locality in turn would have the benefit
of the meeting of this association and of hearing the papers and discussions that take
place. I think, therefore, it is a mistake, if we desire to educate the people of the province
generally in regard to forestry interests, to keep the meeting in one place for ever. It
is quite true that the Parliament of Canada meets here and your meetings are generally
held during the session of ParUament, and consequently the legislators, the people who
are called upon to make the laws in regard to this and other matters, have an oppor-
tunity of being present at the meeting. In the city of Toronto we have the legislature
of. Ontario which province is vitally interested in the deliberations of this association,
and I think it would be a good idea to have the meeting there and enlist the co-operation
and sympathy of the members of the legislature. I think that would be a valuable
thing. Personally I would prefer that the meetings should not be held in Toronto
because this is one of the few opportunities I have of going away from home, but those
gentlemen who live in Ottawa, I suppose, would not object to taking a trip to Toronto
once in a year and having the change which I am enjoying at the present moment.
The Chairman. — It seems to me that there is something to be said in favour of
this peregrination because we want to get everybody interested. That is the way the
American Forestry Association gets along. But lately they seem to hold their meetings
at Washington for general business and then go to some other place for the discussion
of papers.
Mr. J. B. McWiLLiAMS. — Mr. Chairman, before that motion is put, if we are going
to change the date, perhaps it might be better to fix it later in March. We have been
very fortunate in regard to bur meetings, but March is a month in which our trains are
often snowed up and I would suggest that we fix the date for the last Thursday in
March. We will then be more apt to be free to attend. We have been pretty fortunate
up to the present, but in regard to several other meetings I have been attending I may
say we have been snowed in. I move that the meeting be held on the last Thursday in
March.
Mr. Johnson. — I will second the motion.
Mr. Campbell. — The only point about putting it so far back will be the question
as to whether the House would be in session. The Dominion parliament, I think,
would be in session at that time but I do not know whether the legislature would be.
Digitized by
Google
102 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
Mr. South WORTH. — I think the postponement of the date to avoid clashing with
the Mining Institute is putting it sufficiently far ahead for all purposes. I do no^
imagine there will be any serious difficulty about the snowbanks unless we decide to go
to Greenland for our meeting. If we postpone it to a later date there will be danger,
as Mr. Campbell says, in moving from one province to another of putting it beyond the
close of the legislature or of parliament.
Mr. Stewart. — I think that perhaps, when you come to consider it, the last week
of March is getting a little late, because people are then making preparations for the
spring. I think the time proposed is perhaps the most idle period you will have. I
think it would be better to carry the original motion.
Mr. Mc Williams withdrew his amendment and the motion was declared carried.
Mr. South WORTH. — I beg to move that the next annual meeting of this association
be held in the city of Toronto. I, with Mr. White, would prefer personally to see the
meeting held here ; it gives us a little holiday and if we remain in Toronto we are not
likely to get it, but if we can take some of the men I see here to-day, and I think we
can, to Toronto, we can give you a very much better meeting than we have had yet and
I think it will be very much to the interests of forestry in the western part of Ontario.
We have had no meeting there at all. I find in some quarters a disposition to regard
this as somewhat of an appendage of the Dominion Department of Forestry, that it is a
sort of assistant to Mr. Stewart in a way, and I think it would be to the interest of the
association at least once to have the annual meeting held away from Ottawa to have
the idea thoroughly understood everywhere that while it is a Dominion association it is
not a Dominion Government association. I think that holding the next annual meet-
ing at Toronto and possibly the following one at Quebec or Montreal, would do much to
dissipate that idea which, I am sorry to say, does exist in some quarters.
The Chairman. — I quite agree with that statement. I think it would be a benefit
to the association to have the next meeting in Toronto and perhaps the subsequent
meeting in Quebec, and I hope some gentleman will second the motion.
Prof. Macoun. — I have much pleasure in seconding that. I belie%'e it is a proper
thing, as Mr. South worth says, to cut off the appendage and not let it appear for a
moment that we belong to the Dominion Department of the Interior or to any other
government.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I would like to propose the following resolution : —
* That in view of the continued deplorable loss of timber by fire, this association,
whilst recognizing the work already done, would urge upon the governments of the
country, both federal and provincial, the urgent necessity of giving more earnest atten-
tion to the subject of fire protection and would suggest, first, that the number of fire
wardens and fire rangers be largely increased both on lanck under license as well as on
those which are not.'
To increase the number of fire wardens will mean that the laws that exist as to the
setting of fires by settlers arid the railway acts of the different provinces and the federal
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 103
Acts as to the precautions which should be taken by locomotives against setting fire, will
be looked at and the fire wardens will be in a position, if their number is increased, to
watch tourists, fishermen, lumbermen, prospectors and so on, and to increase the number
of fire rangers I think is the best way to see that the law is carried out and made effec-
tive. The second proposal is this :
* That all lands, whether under license or not, be inspected as soon as practicable
in order to determine those fit for agricultural purposes and those which are not ;
* Third. That all lands found unfit for agricultural purposes be declared forest lands
and kept as such in perpetuity ;
* Fourth. That the governments should direct their efforts to centralization and
contiguity in the settlement of any section of land declared fit for agricultural purposes
and that settlement on isolated lands be absolutely prohibited.'
It is no use my discussing these four heads under which I have divided my resolu-
tion because they were most exhaustively discussed yesterday and to-day by this meet-
ing. They are supposed to embody more or less the general opinion and feeling of the
meeting as to the measures which should be adopted to ensure better fire protection.
Mr. White. — I would wish that Mr. Joly had drawn some distinction between
those provinces that are endeavouring to carry out fire protection very closely and those
that are not. Now, I think so far as Ontario is concerned, that we have a very large
staff of fire rangers in the field — some 234 upon licensed lands, some 12 upon lands of
the Crown, some eight or nine on the forest reserve at Lake Temagami and eight or nine
on the forest reserve at Algonquin Park, some 275 or 280 rangers altogether, some of
them all the year round and some during the summer months. I think I have a fair
knowledge of what is necessary in the province of Ontario on the lands of the Crown
and unlicensed lands and I think that at the present time, so far as licensed lands are
concerned, we have met the case very well. The licensees have been asked how many
men they required and asked to appoint them, and in every case we have given the
number of men. In addition to that we are prepared to put rangers on lands where the
licensees do not ask for them, if necessary in order to protect the forests. So far as
Ontario is concerned I think we need not be called upon as though we were neglecting
our plain duty in the premises.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I am very sorry indeed that I worded my resolution in
such a way as to give Mr. White certainly the right to feel slightly hurt, because, as we
all know and I am the first to recognize it, his province has been in the van in the way
of fire protection and I hasten to amend my resolution in a way which I trust will meet
with his approval. I will read the preamble over.
* That in view of the continued deplorable loss of timber by fire this association,
whilst recognizing the work already done and notably by the province of Ontario, would
urge upon the different governments, &c.'
Mr. White. — Yes.
Prof. Macoun. — I second that motion just for the very reason that Mr. Joly has
put in the last clause. It was to strengthen the hands of the Ontario government in
New Ontario so that they could say that this society — an important society now in the
Dominion — had passed a resolution showing the unwisdom of allowing settlers to go into
the country indiscriminately, that is to find one farm here and another farm within a
Digitized by
Google
104 CANADIAN FORESIRY ASSOCIATION
few miles of it. It would strengthen the hands of the authorities in keeping such men
out and directing settlement where it ought to go. That is really the idea I had in
seconding the motion.
Motion agreed to.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
On the order being called for the election of officers :
The Chairman. — I may say, as I did yesterday morning, that there are other
gentlemen whom I would like to see occupyinc; the position I do. I thank the associa-
tion exceedingly for the high honour they have done me in making me the second
president of the Canadian Forestry Association. I do not know that it is the president's
duty to name the officers of this association, but I think we all know a gentleman who
would fill the position with credit and that we would all be glad if he accepted it.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNi^RE. — I think we will all be unanimous in one thing here to-
day, and that is in thanking Mr. Little for the devoted way, the energetic way, in which
he has interested himself in all questions of forestry ever since the matter has taken
hold of the public mind in Canada. Mr. Little has always been to the fore and we have
been proud to have him here as president of this association. We take this opportunity
of thanking him for the way in which he has presided at all our meetings, for the
interest he has always taken, for the way in which he has put himself -out, I may say
many a time leaving his affairs aside to attend the meetings here. In every possible
way he has shown the interest in this association that we should expect from a man
such as Mr. Little. I will now propose that Mr. Hiram Robinson should be president
of the Canadian Forestry Association for the ensuing year. I should propose that His
Excellency the Governor General remain as Patron of the Canadian Forestry Associa-
tion and that Mr. Little should be honorary president.
The Chairman — I thank you exceedingly but under no consideration could I desire
to have the Association disassociated from the name of Sir Henri Joly de Lotbini^re.
Mr. Hiram Robinson — I do not know that Mr. Joly has a seconder in regard to
myself, I might say publicly that I have had no desire to be president, that I felt that
I should not accept the position and that Mr. Little should remain for another year in
the chair, but I have been informed that there are constitutional reasons why the
president should occupy the position but for one year. In this case I would be willing
to accept the office.
The Chairman — I do not think there are any constitutional reasons because the
chair has been occupied by one president for three years.
Mr. Robinson — I beg to ask the mover to withdraw the resolution. I will act
very pleasantly and agreeably in any other position than that if it is the wish of the
mover and seconder.
Mr. White — If there is no constitutional i-easort why the president could be retained
in the chair or why he should not, I think it would be very wise that we should pass
the honour of the presidency of this Association round and I do not know of any gentle-
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOC! A TION 105
man better qiialified to discharge the duties of president than Mr. Hiram Robinson.
I am quite sure it would have a very good eflRftct in our end of the province if it were
known that a prominent lumberman of the Ottawa valley was president of the Association
which was endeavouring to do everything possible to preserve the forests, because there
is an idea amongst very many people in this country that the lumbermen's sole desire
is to destroy the forests. I think the sooner that impression is removed the better it
will be for all concerned, and I do not know any better way of removing that impression
than by having an operator on a large scale, an active lumberman, in the president's
chair of this Association.
The Chairman — I thoroughly agree with what Mr. White had said.
Mr. Stewart — Though there may not be anything in the constitution against the
president occupying the chair for more than one year, yet, as this is a Dominion
Association, and there are a great many prominent men all through the country taking
an active interest in it, I think it would be well to make perhaps an unwritten rule
that this office is to be passed around.
The Chairman — I agree entirely in that matter.
Mr. Stewart — T am sure we would be delighted to have Mr. Little retain it, but as
the meeting will go from here to Toronto next time and as Mr. Robinson belongs to
Ottawa, there is no doubt that his selection would be appropriate. The presidency
would come from Montreal to Ottawa. It was first in Quebec, it then came to Montreal,
and now to Ottawa and probably another time a president will be selected from some
other place.
The Chairman — I do not see why the motion is not seconded and carried.
Mr. Johnson — We are making a precedent. You, Mr. President, have only been
in the chair one year. Now, if we establish the precedent that a man shall be only one
year in 'the chair the result will be that we will always have a contest and we will have ^
some years a good man and some years a poor man. 1 think if a man has done well we
might let him continue for another year rather than pass it round.
The Chairman — You might get a poor man and it might be hard to get him out.
Mr. Robinson — I certainly prefer that another man should take the position.
While I consider it a very high honour to occupy the chair of such an important
Association yet I have always been willing to work in the ranks and to help it in every
way, and I would really prefer that somebody else would take the position.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Robinson — Well then, if it is carried I thank the members for electing me to
the position, and I must say that following upon Sir Henri Joly and Mr. Little it will
be no bed of roses to me. They have both been men who have done very much for this
Association. Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, who we all know is in British Columbia
to-day, has been with it from its inception and Mr. Little ««o long as I remember any.
thing about him has been connected with the lumber trade, and with forestry, and he
has been constantly at work, in season and out of season, in promoting the interests of
Digitized by
Google
106 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
forestry in this country and has done perhaps more than any one man I know of to make
known the great I'esources we have, which we are all sorry to see, are bein<? depleted by
that terrible scourge — fire. Whatever we may all think and do in regard to thij^
Association, it gives us much encouragement to observe the interest taken by the
different governments in the work of protecting the forests of our country.
Mr. Stewart — The position of honorary president has been passed over.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNiiiRE — I had the honour to move a short time ago that Mr.
Little should be named as honorary president to replaca ray father. I know there Is no
man in the room to-day that my father would sooner see occupying the position than
you, Mr. Chairman, and I feel convinced that if he were here, he would do all he
possibly could, as I will do, to make you accept that position. It will give him a great
deal of pleasure to know that he is succeeded as honorary president by you, and I trust
you will reconsider your decision and accept the position.
The Chairman — Under such assurances, if you gentlemen place me in the position, I
will accept this honour with pleasure.
Mr. Stewart — It was mentioned a little while ago, I think, that we should pass
these offices around, and as our late Vice-President has taken the place of the past
President, and as the past President has gone up one higher, to the position of Honorary
President, that leaves it open to submit some new name for the position of Vice-Presi-
dent and I have very much pleasure in moving that Mr. Aubrey White, Deputy Com-
missioner of Crown Lands for Ontario, be first Vice-President.
Mr. Robinson — I second the motion.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. White — Of course I am very much obliged to you for the mark of confidence
you have displayed in electing me to be Vice-President of this association. I am a
pretty busy man, although it is a popular delusion that civil servants are not busy, but
there are some that find their time almost completely occupied and I am in that posi-
tion. However, in view of the fact that this association is going to meet in Toronto
next year, and I may as Vice-President be able to do something to assist you, I shall be
very happy to accept the position and do anything that in me lies to further the
interests of the Association.
The Chairman — Next comes the Board of Directors.
Mr. McWiLLiAMS — I have much pleasure in moving that Mr. J. R. Booth be one
of the directors. I always like to see a gentleman occupying one of these positions who
takes an interest in the society. Mr. Booth has attended all the meetings so far.
Mr. Robinson — I shall have great pleasure in seconding that motion, but I would
ask if we are not tied down to a certain number.
Mr. Booth — I beg to suggest that you leave the board of directors as it is at the
present time. My son is one of the directors and that is quite enough.
Digitized by
Google
CAN A DIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 107
Mr. Robinson — If we have room for Mr. J. R. Booth we will place him on the
board and keep his son on as well.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE — I move that the board of directors be composed as
follows : Dr. Saunders, Prof. Macoun, Mr. Thomas Southworth, Mr. C. Jackson Booth,
Mr. J. R. Booth, Mr. W. C. Edwards.
Mr. Mc Williams — I suggest the name of Mr. John Bertram.
Mr. Booth — I hope the meeting will accept Mr. Bertram's name in place of my
own. He is a man of large experience who has always taken great interest in the pro-
tection of the forests and I am sure there is no man I would rather see on the board
than Mr. Bertram.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNiERE — Then I propose Dr. Saunders, Prof. Macoun, Mr.
Thomas Southworth, Mr. C. Jackson Booth, Mr. J. R. Booth, Mr. John Bertram and
myself. •
Mr. Southworth — I would be very glad to express my approval of that selection.
Mr. Stewart — I second the motion.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNi^RE — As there are two more officers to be elected, the secre-
tary and assistant secretary and treasurer, if the gentlemen who have laboured so de-
votedly in the past, will assume the task again for another year, I am sure that every
member of the association will be doubly grateful to them and therefore I propose that
Mr. Stewart be secretary of the association and that Mr. Campbell be assistant secre-
tary and treasurer. I trust that they will do us the honour of accepting these positions
for another term. ,
Mr. Stewart — 1 would be glad to do so except that I regard it as being unjust
that I should occupy the first place, when Mr. Campbell does most of the work. I
really felt that I was leaving altogether too much to Mr. Campbell. For instance, when
the arrangements for this meeting were being made, I lost track of them by being
away. I was away until about a week before the meeting. While I shall be glad to
do anything I can, I think Mr. Campbell should be considered as secretary of the As-
sociation. My duties are so great, tTiat I cannot give the attention to the matter that
I would like.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. White. — Mr. Chairman, I would ask that you vacate the chair for a moment
and allow the new president to take it. I want to move a resolution.
The past president, Mr. Little, vacated the chair and the new president, Mr. Robin-
son, took it.
Mr. White, — I wish to move a resolution of thanks to the gentleman who has just
retired from the chair. Mr. Joly has made some remarks in connection with the matter,
but I think it would be better in the form of a resolution. There is no doubt that what
Digitized by
Google
108 CANA DIAN FORESTRY ASSOC! A TION
Mr. Joly has said is perfectly true that there is no man in connection with this associ-
ation who has taken a more active intei*est or done more to bring it up to its present
successful position than Mr. Little. Some ten or twelve years ago now I had the
pleasure of meeting him at the American Forestry Association meeting in the city of
Quebec and he was then as active and energetic in the discharge of the duties he per-
formed in connection with that association as he is now. I also h^d the pleasure of
meeting him. in Chicago at the meeting of the American Forestry Association there
where he delivered a very interesting address on the timber resources of Canada. In
every way possible I think we must all admit that Mr. Little has done his duty as a
member of this association and more especially has he discharged the duties of the
presidency in an admirable way, being both courteous and kind and doing everything
he could to promote harmony and order in the meetings of this association.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifcRE. — 1 sccond the motion.
Motion agreed to.
The Chairman (Mr. Robinson). — I have great pleasure in conveying to you, Mr.
Little, the motion which has been adopted, and to thank you for the work that you have
done not only for this session but during your past life in regard to the forestry of the
country.
Mr. Little. — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, I have to thank you most heartily for
your kind expressions and I assure you that if I did not think it was in the interest of
forestry that I should accept the honourable position that Mr. Joly has so kindly desired
me to occupy, I never would have accepted it. I felt that there was more work for me
to do and that possibly your confidence thus expressed in my fitness for the position
might enable me the better to perform it. Gentlemen I thank you for your kindness.
Mr. Stewart. — Before adjourning, I may say that, as you are aware, we are very
much indebted to the railways of the country for more than the u«ual assistance given
to this association, inasmuch as they have not only given us a return fare but they have
given it to us irrespective of the number of members attending the association. It is
quite usual, in the case of fifty attending, that they allow a rebate, or a certain
number, but all the railways have given the privilege without any conditions. I there-
foie move that the hearty thanks of this association be tendered to the several railway
companies to whom we are indebted in this respect.
Mr. JoLY DE LoTBiNifeRE. — I beg to second the motion.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Campbell. — I move that the thanks of this association be presented to the
press which has been so very kind in giving reports of the meetings of this association. I
have had, as organizer of the meeting and assistant secretary of the association, to come
a great deal in contact with the members of the press, and I can bear very decided
witness to the courtesy and kindness with which they have received me, and to the
cheerful manner in which they have always published notices concerning the work of the
association. The reports of the present meeting, I think, have been very good, not only
here in Ottawa but outside of Ottawa and I think our thanks are certainly due to the
press for what they have done for this association.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 109
Mr. Johnson. — Last year I moved that resolution and Mr. Campbell seconded it ;
this time he moves it and I second it, and I do so with the greatest pleasure, because I
know that while on many papers space is very limited, they give us all the room we want.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Stewart moved :
* That the hearty thanks of this association be tendered to the corporation of the
city of Ottawa, for their kindness in allowing us the use of the council chamber.'
Motion agreed to.
Mr. South WORTH. — I would like to make one resolution before adjourning. A
good deal htis been said as to the efforts devoted to the success of this meeting of such
men as Messrs. Little, Robinson, Joly and others, but I think you will all agree with
me that a very great deal of the success of the association, so far as it has been successful,
is due to a very large extent to two gentlemen, and that without the work they have
done the thing would have been largely a failure. There are none of us perhaps who
fully realize the amount of work that falls upon the secretary of an association of this
sort. We are all apt to neglect our opportunities of doing work for an association of
this sort and we all owe a great deal to the indefatigable efforts displayed by the secre-
tary, and assistant secretary and treasurer. I beg therefore to extend the thanks of the
association to these two gentlemen in connection with the editorial work they have
done for Bod atid Gun in addition to the ordinary secretarial work of the association.
I know it entails a large amount of work and it has been very successfully done.
Prof. Macoun.— I can second every word that Mr. Southworth has expressed and
he has not said half enough. These gentlemen are indefatigable. It is due to the
efforts of these gentlemen that the success of the society belongs.
Mr. Stewart. — I thank you for this vote, but, as I said before, Mr. Campbell is
entitled to the credit more than I for the work which has been done.
Mr. Robinson. — I hope in the future that this society will be sufficiently strong to
^make some remuneration to these gentlemen for the work they have performed in the
interests of the country.
Prof. Macoun. — I purpose when the executive committee meets to bring the paper
of Prof. Knight before the executive. I think it is all important that we should talk
over this matter and have a resolution passed by the executive and also have, if possible,
Prof. Prince deputed by the government to examine into this question that Prof. Knight
has so well brought before us.
Mr. Robinson. — In regard to the effect of sawdust on fish i
Prof. Macoun. — Yes.
The Chairman. — A paj>er was presented to this meeting at my request by the Hon.
Mr. Ward, a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec, who came up to attend this
meeting but had to leave for home without reading it. He has always taken a great
interest in forestry, and is one of our oldest lumbermen. He left the paper with me
Digitized by
Google
110 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
and I thought perhaps the association might allow it to be included in our proceedings.
Is there any objections ?
Prof. Macoun. — It might be taken as read and it will then appear in the
minutes.
The meeting adjourned at 5 p. m.
THE TIMBER OF CANADA.
Jiehiniscences and remarks by an old lumberman, the Hon, J, K. Ward, Montreal, Q^ie.
The first timber shipped to Europe from Canada was sent from Quebec to
Larochelle by Talon in 1667. Lieut. Hocquart shipped timber and boards to Rochefort
in 1735. In 1823, 300 cargoes were shipped from Quebec.
In the early part of the present century, the Montmorency mills established by
a Mr. Usboirne. Mr. Peter Patterson, a ship carpenter by trade, who had spent some
time in Russia, became an employee of Mr. Usboirne's, and finally proprietor of the
property, and became one of the largest manufacturers of lumber in Canada. Sir John
Caldwell established mills at Riviere-du Loup en Bas and at Etchemin. The late
William Price, father of Hon. J. Price, of Quebec, established large mills at Chicoutimi,
8t. Alexis, L'Anse St. Jean, St. Etienne, Batiscan, Matane and many other places, leav-
ing an immense business to his sons, which is now conducted by the son before named.
The late Allan Gilmour, and relations of the same name, carried on for many years a
large business on the North Nation, the Gatineau and Mississippi (Canada), and at Tren-
ton, Ont., the younger branches of the family continuing the business.
Philomene Wright, one of the first lumbermen on the Ottawa river, came from
Woburn, Mass., in the United States, arriving at the Chaudi^re Falls — or the Asticou,
as called by the Indians — as early as the year 1796. It was not till 1797 that he finally
decided to make his home in Canada, and on the 20th October, 1799, he and two com-
panions pitched upon the site of the future city of Hull. He finally quitted Woburn for
Canada on the 2nd of February, 1800. He w*as accompanied by five families, and had
in his train fourteen horses, eight oxen and seven sleighs. The first tree was felled on
the site of the homestead on the 7th of March, of the same year. He brought the first
square timber from the Ottawa to Quebec in the year 1807. He built the first slide on
the Hull side of the river in 1829. He was elected the first member to represent the
county of Ottawa in 1830. He died in 1839, and sleeps, an honoured memory, in the
little cemetery on the Aylmer road. Philomene Wright built his first saw and grist
mills in 1808 ; they were, unfortunately, burnt down, but were rebuilt in sixty days.
About eighteen years prior to this the first saw-mill on the Ottawa had been built
at Point Fortune, by a Mr. Story. It boasted one upright saw, and it is recorded that
when the man in charge gigged back the carriage for a fresh cut, he would sit down on
the log to take his dinner, and was about through by the time the cut was finished.
With our present saws the same can be done in four seconds.
Among our successful lumbermen have been the late James McLaren, of Bucking-
ham ; Peter McLaren, of Perth ; Bronson, Weston tt Co., Perley & Pattee, J. R. Booth,
Alex. Eraser, of Westmeath ; W. Mackey, and the late firm of Hamilton Bros., whose
father was one of the first in the trade at Hawkesbury, Ont. Many others have taken
an active part in the business, with more or less success.
West of the Rocky Mountains, Canada contains vast quantities of valuable timber,
the manufacture of which is rapidly increasing, to meet the wants of the Pacific coast
and islands. Much of this lumber will find its way east to the treeless prairies.
As to the Canadian method of lumbering, when circumstances will permit, we pile
or skid before the snow becomes too deep. When the snow is deep we draw direct
from the stump to the lake or river. Our style of living in the shanty, and, in fact,
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION 111
the building itself dififers in the various parts of the country. Until very recently,
particularly in the lower St. Lawrence, the fare of the shantyman was very primitive,
the commonest tea being quite a luxury, and the only variety in the bill of fare was
that it consisted of pea soup, bread, pork and beans for dinner, the same, with the
addition of tea for supper, and either, less the pea soup, for breakfast. On the St.
Maurice, for many years, the living has been good and substantial, with comfortable
shanties provided with stove, tables and bunks, the cooking being usually done in an
outside compartment. The shanty man's condition, however, is improving with the
times.
Our shantymen, whether English or French, as a rule, are as good axemen, and
expert drivers and canoemen, as can be found in any country. Our people are well up
in dam building, as well as in making slides and clearing away the rivers to facilitate
driving. Our i*ivers, as a general thing, being very precipitous and rapid, require exten-
sive improvements, especially for the running of square timber.
I can har-dly let the occasion pass without a reference to two of our woods, the first
because of its usefulness to the poor aborigine, whose heritage we possess ; it served to
cover his wigwam, and was the material for his canoe, to aid locomotion ; the latter,
the great wood of commerce.
The white birch, or bouleau, has within a few years become of some value when
found within easy reach, having been turned to account for the manufacture of spools
and spool wood for thread makers, the white part of the wood only being used. It is
made into squares, varying from one inch, in eighths to, say, two inches, and three or
four feet long. Many shiploads have been shipped to England and Scotland the past
few years, principally from the lower St. Jjawrence. The red, or heart, being worth-
less to the spoolmakers, is either used as firewood or left to rot. There are vast quanti-
ties of this wood in the interior, too far from navigation or rail to be of any value. It
IS mostly found on poor soil, mixed with balsam, small spruce and cedar. It makes
good firewood when dry. The bark is useful to the Indian for the making of his canoe,
the vessel for retaining the sap of the maple, his drinking cup and the cover of his
wigwam. The yellow birch provides a cough remedy by boiling the sap down to a syrup;
and last, though not least, it furnishes the proverbial birch-rod, which, though ahiiost
obsolete, sometimes does good service, even in these days of advanced ideas. Vast
quantities of the dwarf or black birch have been used as withes in rafting logs, some
concerns using as many as thirty or forty thousand in a season, each of them represent-
ing a young ti^ee ; but little of this is done at present.
We now come to what every lumberman considers the king of the forest, in grandeur,
usefulness and value, the white or cork pine, or Pinua strohus of the scientists, the tree
of all others that serves more puiposes that we can enumerate. Among them the tiny
match, the mast for the great ship, the frame of the sweet sounding piano, and where\ er
a soft, easy-working wood Is wanted, either in the arts, the workshop, or the factory,
there it is to be found. As an article of commerce, it far surpasses in value and quantity
any other wood, if not all sorts put together. It supplies more freight for vessels coming
into the St. Lawrence than any other commodity ; it gives more employment to wage-
earning men than any industry in our country, except agriculture. It employs more
capital in manipulating it from the time the men leave for the woods in the fall, to
make, haul and drive the logs and timber to the mills — the building of mills for sawing,
the construction of barges and steamboats to convey it to market, as well as the large
amount of freight furnished to railroads, the erection of factories to convert it to the
various uses to which it is put. It is safe to say, that the value of the output of pine
lumber alone, produced in Canada, is at least 825,000,000, or two and a half times as
much as that of any other manufacturing industry ; and, when we consider that 60 per
cent is paid for labour, and that nearly all to men, representing a large population, it
it is readily seen how important it is, either by legislation or otherwise, to protect and
conserve the source of this great factor in our prosperity. How can we extol sufficiently
this monarch of the for^est that we are so much indebted to ? The tree when growing in
the open country is of little or no value, except as a shade tree, its lateral branches
reaching almost to the ground. It is in the dense forest we have to look for the great
Digitized by
Google
112 CANADIAN FORESTRY AbSOCIA TION
tree of commerce, where nature acts the pruner. There* the branches decay and drop
off, the trunk shoots upward high above its neighbours, seeking that which it was
deprived of below — light and air. By this action of nature we get our clear pine, so
much prized by mechanics. As the branches drop offi the wood grows over them, and
we get the stately tree carrying its size well up, and often attaining 60 or 70 feet to the
branches. I once saw a tree that measured 40 inches in diameter 70 feet from the
ground, without a knot or defect visible in this space. Naturally, however, it is very
rare to get a log or the best of timber without finding knots or defects as you get near
the heart, the remains of the dead branches that fell oflF during the tree's slow gi'owth.
My experience teaches me that white pine is of slow growth. The smallest
trees that ought to be taken for sawlogs or timber should be at least fourteen
inches at the butt. This would take not less than fifty years to produce, and
such a tree as I have before described as much as one hundred and fifty ; more than
three inches in twenty years. Large groves of pine are usually found on poor light soil,
I think, consequently, that the bulk of the pine found under such circumstances is apt
to be punky or defective for the want— so to speak — of nourishment. The best pine is
usually found on stronger soil mixed with hardwood. It is unpleasant to contemplate
the want of this valuable timber. Once gone it is gone for ever, and cannot be repro-
duced in our or our childi'en's time, as unlike mineral or the other products of the soil,
the quantity produced from these are limited by the amount of labour employed in pro-
ducing them. Perhaps, however, time will find a substitute in some artificial wood, or
employ metal to take its place.
Hardwoods, to which I will briefly refer, that were once almost discarded, except
for burning, are coming largely into use in consequence of the improved wood-working
machinery that has been devised of late years, making the work of preparing and com-
pleting joiner work much more simple and easy than it was to do the same thing in pine
when I served my time over 50 years ago, and when flooring, mortising, tenoning, stick-
ing mouldings out of dry spruce with hard knots, was done by hand. The facilities also
for -reaching hardwoods and getting them to market will help to make up for the loss of
this favourite material, which, I hope, is yet a long way offl I might say before closing
this part of my subject that tlie magnificent cedar of British Columbia will, no doubt,
largely take the place of white pine for joiner-work. The Douglas fir will be a valuable
substitute for our coarser woods, when they become scarce and high in price. A lumber-
man's life is not passed on a bed of roses, yet there is a charm about it to those who
have the stamina to endure its hardships, and enjoy its excitements, that is not easily
forgotten. Who, that has followed it, can forget the log drive from early mom to sun-
down, kedging across the lake to the tune of the charUeur, or breaking the jam in tlie
roaring cascade, whose noise is drowned by the yells and shouts of the crew on seeing
the great mass move off*, each great log, as it were trying to get ahead of its neighbour,
until they reach still water. What excitement after the risk run and efforts made I
Old lumbermen can and do look back to such scenes with much pride. What other
business has so many contingencies connected with it, apart from the ordinary mishaps
in trade ? — sometime too much snow, other times too little. On other occasions the ice
or the floods carry away his booms and scatter the logs, to be often stolen by land
pirates, who will secrete his property, and annoy him in trying to find it.
As to the utility of the forest, though it may not attract the rain or influence its
downfall, there can be no doubt as to its regulating the flowing of the waters by holding
them back in the glades and swamps, shelteiing the land from the fierce rays of the sun,
preventing rapid evaporation to a great extent, and thus preventing oftentimes damag-
ing floods and dried-up streams. For the reasons advanced, does it not behoove us to
use our. influence to bring about such legislation as will have the effect of preserving ami
protecting our forests, on which so much depends ?
Digitized by
Google
n
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
113
R. H. Campbell, Treasurer.
In account with The Canadian Forestry Association.
Dr.
Cr.
To Balance from 1901
i.'Memljership Fees,
n Interest
$ 313 Gl
260 75
5 81
680 17
By subscriptions to ' Rod and Gun,' 1901 $
Travelling Expenses
Advertising
Report of Annual Meeting
Expenses of Lecture
Printing
Subscriptions to *Rod and fiun^' 1902]
Express charges, Photog^phs, &c . . j
Balance ,
144 50
2 50
19 12
80 00
23 00
24 00
176 75
4 15
106 15
580 17
Examined and found correct.
George Johnson, \ . ,..
Jas. M. Macoun, } Auditors.
Digitized by
Google
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FOBESTBT ASSOCIATION.
Ami, H. M^ M.A., D.Sc, F.G.S., F.G.S.A Ottawa, Ont
Andernon, J. R Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Victoria, B.C.
Avlsworth, W. R Belleville, Ont.
Alexander, A. E Campbellton, N.B.
Alexander, P Regina, Assa.
Aylmer, Hon. F. W., C.E., P.L.S Golden, B.C.
Atkinson, W. F. V 1 Des Griaong St., Quebec, P.Q.
Allen, H.S Cardston, Alta.
Butler, M. J Des^ronto, Ont.
BeU, Robt., B.A.Sc.,M.U, LL.D.,F.R.S., F.R.S.C.,
F.G.S., F.G.S.A Geological Survey, Ottawa, Ont.
Bostock, Hewitt Ducks, B.C.
Booth, C. Jackson Ottawa, Ont.
Boyd, M. M Boboaygeon, Ont.
Bertram, John 9 Walmer Road, Toronto, Ont.
Bell, Jas. A ... St. Thomas, Ont.
Benjamin, S.P Wolfville, N.S.
Bryce, Rev. Geo., M.A., LL.D Colony street, Winnipeg, Man.
Baird, Thos Crystal City, Man.
Brown, Alex . Glenora, Man.
Beavis, H. J Crystal City, Man.
Burke, Rev. A. E Alberton, P.E.I.
Banihill, Geo. E Fairville, St. John, N.B.
Bryce, W. H Percy, Assa.
Bronson, F. P Ottawa, Ont.
Backus, Don. T Biltmore. N.C., U.S. A
Bertrand, J. T Riviere du Loup, P.Q.
Beaupr^, Arthur P 842 St. Catherine Strett, Montreal. P.Q.
Barnhill, B. B '. Two Rivers, Cumberland County, N.S.
Boyce, H. F ; Qu'Appelle Station, Assa.
Ball, John Abbotsford, B.C.
Brandley, Theo Stiriing, Alta.
Blackmore, Wm '. . . . . . Cardston, Alta.
Beazer, Mark Beazer, Alta.
Bum, Geo General Manager Bank of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont.
Burland, Lt.-Col. JeflFrey H Montreal, P.Q.
Ba^ge, Richard Quebec, P.Q.
BailTarge, Chevalier Chas 72 St. Louis street Quebec, P.O.
Bryant. Edward S 56 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A.
Brownlee, W. H Crystal City, Man.
Bickerdike, R., M.P Montreal, P.Q.
Campbell, R. H. .., Ottawa, Ont.
Costigan, Hon. John Ottawa, Ont.
Creighton, Graham Education Office, Halifax, N.S.
Conant, Thos Oshawa, Ont.
Cochrane, W. F McLeod, Alta.
Cowan, Wm Prince Albert, Sask.
Campbell, A. C House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont.
Cambie, H. J 1030 Georgia street, Vancouver, B.C.
Carpenter, H.S Trent Canal office, Gamebridge, Ont.
Card, Mrs. Zina Y Cardston, Alta.
Carrol, Cyrus, C.E., O.L.S., D.L.S Princf- Albert, Sask.
Campbell, F. J Canada Paper Co., Windsor Mills, P.Q.
Cavana, A. G Orillia, Ont.
Chipman, Willis, B. A.Sc., C.E Toronto, Ont.
Comstock, Prof. F.M., Ph.D School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio.
Colter, Jas ( -rystai City, Man.
Caldwell, John Virden, Man.
Curtis, P. F Baldur, Man.
Campbell, Arch. M Post Office Dept., Ottawa, Ont.
Coltart, Ian . ., Beulah, Man.
Cassels, Hamilton, 19 Wellington St. West Toronto, Ont.
Campbell, Arch. H., Manning Arcade Toronto, Ont.
Cary, Austin ... Brunswick, Maine, U.S.A.
Chown, Geo. Y Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
Gooper, D. G CoUingwood, Ont.
Craig, Roland D., 45 East Avenue Ithaca, N. Y., U.S.A.
Cowie, F. W., Public Works Department Ottawa, Ont.
Crooker, W. S Brookfield, N.S.
114
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 116
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION- CbrUtn««f.
Cameron, C. K., Y.M.C.A. Building, Dom. Square. Montreal, P.O.
Calvin, Hiram A., M. P Garden Island, Ont
Curry, N Ambers li, N.S.
Cormier, N. E., Supt. Forest Protection Service Aylmer, P.Q.
Caldwell, W. C, M.P.P Lanark, Ont.
Cumraings, J. G Furt Steele, B.C.
Commerce, Manager of the Bank of Barrie, Ont.
Belleville, Ont.
•f If •• CoUingwood, Ont.
It fi If Wiarton, Ont.
M II II Peterborough, Ont.
.1 Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
1. ^ .1 II Cranbrook, B.C.
II * II If Vancouver, B.C.
.1 Victoria, B.C.
Waterloo, Ont.
Davip, Jlon. E. J Toronto, Ont.
Dixon, F. Fitzroy, Dept of Interior Ottawa, Ont.
Dunlop, Wm. M Rockland, Ont.
Dickson Co'y, of Peterborough Peterborough, Ont
Ducker, W. A., D.L.S., 334 Pacific Ave Winnipeg, Man.
Davis, John, O.L.S Alton, Ont.
Dennis, J, S., D.L.S., C.P.R. Irrigation Commr Calgary, Alberta.
Duce, Thoe Cardston, Alta.
Doh«ny,M. W Guelph, Ont.
Deane, F KamJoops, B.C.
Duce, Wm Cardston, Alta.
Doufiflas, Dr. A. Ruthven, 37 Ste. Famille St Montreal, P.Q.
Dickie, Alfred Lower Stewiacke, N.S.
Dumford, A. D., 9 Simptjon St Montreal, P.O.
Kngman, Frank L Scandinavia, Man.
Eetlin, Alfred B ' Melita, Man.
Edwards, W. C, M.P Rockland. Ont.
Evans, J. D., Chief Engineer, Ontario Central R.R. Trenton, Ont.
Elliott, J., Gen. Mgr. Molaons Bank Montreal, P.Q.
Fletcher, Jas., LL.D., F.L.S,, r.R.S.C Ottawa, Ont.
Flewelling, W. P., Deputy Surveyor General Fredericton, N.B.
Famcomb, A. E Reg^na, Assa.
Farmer, Fred. F Three Rivers, P.Q.
Frame, J. F Virden, Man. . -
Faull, Prof. J. H., University of Toronto Toronto, Ont.
Fleming, Sir Sandford, K.C.M.G Ottawa, Ont.
Finnie, Dr. John T Montreal, P.Q.
Fraser, J. B., 74 Nepean St Ottawa, Ont.
Fisher, Elizabeth M Ambler, Pa., U.S.A.
Gibson, T. W., Crown Lands Dept Toronto, Ont.
Greeley, H. A Mnple Creek, Assa.
Gifford, Prof. John, 109 Summit Ave Ithaca, N. Y., U.S. A.
Gamble, Capt. Killaly, 88 Charles St Toronto, Ont.
Galbraith, Wm., O.L.S Bracebridge, Ont
Gillies, James Carleton Place, Ont.
Gillies, J. S Braeside, Ont
Gregory, J. Fraser, Douglas Ave St. John, N.B.
Goodwm, Prof. W. L., D.Sc., Queen's University.. .Kingston, Ont.
Greig, Geo. H Winnipeg, Man.
Graves, Prof. H. S., Yale School of Forestry New Haven, Conn., U.S.A.
Coulter, H. H Virden, Man.
Gardner, Jas., 311 Stanley Ave Montreal, P.Q.
Gorman, Robt , 282 Somerset St Ottawa, Ont
Godsal, F. W Pmcher Creek, Alta.
Gwvnne, Reginald, Sheriff's Office Grenfell, Aasa.
Gill, James. Cranbrook, B.C.
Gillies, David, M.P.P Carleton Place, Ont
Gendron, F. A Hull, P.Q.
Gordon, He v. D. M., D.D., Prineii»al, Queen's
University Kingston, Ont.
Gill, R. A., M'gr, Bank of Commerce Ottawa, Ont.
Hingston, Sir \Vni Montreal, P.Q.
Hamilton, Robt (Trenville, P.Q.
Hay, G. U., M. A., LL.B., F.R.S.C St John, N.B.
Hutt, Wm. N Logan, Utah, U.S.A.
Hutcheon, James Guelph, Ont.
Harrison, E.J Owen Sound, Ont
Hosmer, Ralph S., Division of Forestry, Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Hamilton, J. W., 26 Lawrence Place Buffalo, N. Y.
Hutchison, E Douglastown, N.B.
Digitized by
Google
116 CA NADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIA TION
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION~Con<mM«L
Hogbin, Rev. Geo. H Calgary, Alta.
Hutt, Prof. H. L., Ontario Agricultural College Guelph, Ont
Hall, W. J. C , Dept. of Lands and Foresta Quebec, P.Q.
Holt, Chfw. M., LL.D., 186 St. James St Montreal, P.Q.
Harley, H Swan River, Man.
Holcroft, H. Spencer, 182 Bloor St Toronto, Ont.
Howard, E. Edwin, 1724 Notre Dame St Montreal, P.Q.
Hoehn, Marcell Berlin, Ont.
Harker, Levi Magrath, Alta.
Harker, Eph Cai^ston, Alta.
Hudson, Geo Crystal City, Man.
Higginson, Col. Wni Vankleek Hill, Ont.
Jolj^ de Lotbini^re, His Honour Sir Henri, K.C.M.G.,
Lieut. -Govenior of British Columbia Victoria, B.C.
James, D Thornhill, Ont.
Johnston, T. G., M.D., M.P Samia, Ont.
Jones, F. W., Columbia River Lumber Co., Ltd (iolden, B.C.
Jory, U.S Crystal City, Man.
Johnson, Geo., Dominion Statistician Ottawa, Ont.
James, S., 227 George St Toronto, Ont.
James, Walter J. TT Rosser, Man.
James, D. D., 227 George St Toronto, Ont.
Joly de tiOtbiniere, E.G Quebec, P.Q.
Jeffery, Dr. E. C, Harvard University Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
Jordan, Frank M Montfort, P.Q.
Joseph, And. C, 115 Grande AUee Quebec, P.Q.
Jones, Lt.-Col. G. E. A., Des Carrieres St Quebec, P.Q.
Johnston, J. M., 579 St. John St Quebec, P.Q.
Kirkpatrick, Geo. B., Director of Surveys, Dept. of Crown Lands, Toronto.
Knight, J. W Stirling, Alta.
Keefer, T. C, C.M.G : Ottawa, Ont.
Knechtel, A.,C/oFore8t, Fishand Game Commission, Albany, U.S.A.
Klotz, Otto J., Dept. of Interior Ottawa, Ont
Keyes, P. G., Se«;retary, Dept. of Interior Ottawa, Ont
Keele, J., Geological Survey Ottawa, Ont
Key, Chas. W Calgary, Alta.
Kimball, James R. Magrath, Alberta.
Knight, Raymond Stirling, Alta.
Knight, Jesse Stirling, Alta.
Knight, Inez Stirling, Alta.
Knight Jennie B Cardston, Alta.
Little, William Westmount Heights, M(mtreal, P.Q.
Leamy, Jas New Westminster, B.C.
Little, W. F Anthracite, Alta.
Lyndon, W. A Lyndon, Alta.
Lockhardt, L. D Moncton, N. B.
Lumsden, Hugh D., (>3 Homewood Ave Toronto, Ont
Laidlaw, Jas Clearwater, Man.
Laurie, P. G Battleford, Sask.
Lothian, Wm Pipestone, Man.
Lang, Geo Indian Head, Assa.
Lake, R. S ( Jn-nfell, Assa.
Lochead, Prof. W., Ontario Agricultural College (iuelph, Ont.
Leetham, E. S Buckingham, P.Q.
Lanff, A. (t Waneta, W. Kootenay, B.C.
Louden, John, 40 Church Street Toronto, Ont.
Lampson, Geo., 281 (irande Allee Quel>ec, P.Q.
Lee, W., Buade Street n
LeVasseur, Major N., 17 St. John street ti
Laird, Alex., Asst. General Manager, Bankof Commerce, Toronto, Ont.
Lees, Richard, M.A St Thomas, Ont
McWilliams, J. B Peterborough, Ont.
MacLaurin, Alex Charlemagne, P.Q.
Mulvey, Stewart W)nnii>eg, Man.
Macoun, W. T., pAijerimental Farm Ottawa, Ont
Macoun, J. M., (Geological Survey t»
Macoun, Prof. John, M. A., F.L.Si, F.R.S.C
MacKay, A.H., LL.D., Sufjerintendent of Education Halifax, N.S.
Mc(4iblK)n, Alex Fort Qu'Api>elle, Assa.
McDonuld, D. J Kamlocjps, B.C.
Mitchell, Arch New Oxley, Alta.
Mclnnes, W., Geological Survey Ottawa, Ont
Manitoba, Lieutenant-Governor of Winnii)eg, Man.
McLean, J. K., D.L.S Elora, Ont
McPhilliiw, G., D.L.S Windsor, Cut
Mawson, (Jeo., 171 Queen Victoria Street London, Eng.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY A8S0C1A TION 117
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION -CantinuecL
Mayhugh, Edward Elizabeth, Fa,, U.S.A.
Morgan, Jas., Phillips Square Montreal, F.Q.
Morgan, CD n
Machin, H. T., 143 Grande All^ Quebec, F.Q.
Mountain, Geo. A., Canada Atlantic Ry Ottawa, Ont.
Muldrew, W. H^ B. A., D. Faed Gravenhurst, Ont.
McFarUne, W. D., Ph. D Wiudsor Mills, Ont.
Murphy, J. E Hepworth Station, Ont.
McPherson, Allen Longford Mills, Ont.
McNab, Peter. .... Neepawa, Man.
McLennan, Francis, British Empire Building Montreal, F.Q.
McNamee, Jas Crystal City, Man.
McEvoy, Jas Ottawa, Ont.
Moore, Albert H., 8 Divinity Street Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
McLaren, Thos . . Pipestone, Man. .
McCarty, Chas Cardston, Alta.
McKay, Hector H., M.D., CM.. P.O. Box 27 New Glasgow N.S.
McGibbon, D. Lome; Manager, Lauren tide Pulp Co.. Grand Mdre, F.Q.
Mather, John, 463 Theodore Street Ottawa, Ont.
McLaren, Alex Buckingham, F.Q.
McLaren, Albert n
McAllister, John Campbellton, N.B.
Macdonald, D. F Parry Sound, Ont.
Moffatt, A Cranbrook, B.C.
Meaney, Thos., North Shore Power Ry. and Naviga-
tion Company Quebec, F.Q.
McC<«ineU, J. W., 290 St. James Street Montr^ F.Q.
McLaren, David Ottawa, Ont.
McLaren, John- Buckingham, P.Q.
McLaren, Jas. B m
Mclntjrre, A. R Russell, Man.
McCuaig, N., Supt., Forest Protection Service Bryson, F.Q.
Macrae, Lt.-Col. D Guelph, Ont.
McKitrick, Gto ... . Crystal City, Man.
McLaren, P. B Clearwater, Man.
MacKay, Hon. Robert, Royal Building, Place
d'Armes. Montreal, P.O.
Malone, Thos Three Rivers, P.Q.
Niblock. J Calgary, Alta.
Noble, Wm . Oxbow, Assa.
Noble, J. G CoUingwood, Ont.
Neilson, Col. J. L. Hubert, Dept of Militia and
Defence Ottawa, Ont
Nixon, Robert. Crystal City, Man.
0'Hara,B.L Levis, P.Q.
Olmsted, Frederick Law, jr Brookline, Mass., U.S. A.
Owen, P. G., care ot Price Bros. & Co Quebec, P.Q.
Pearce, Wm Calgary, Alta.
Parent, Hon. S. N., Premier Quel)ec. P.Q.
Prince, P. A Calgary, Alta.
Pinhey, C. H., 652 Gilmour St Ottawa, Ont.
Prince, Herbert M Quebec, F.Q.
Potter, David Clearwater, Man.
Pinkerton. Robt. T., Mt. Pleasant Ave VVestmount, P.Q.
Pa^t, Rev. Dean Calgary, Alta.
Vncej H. A., Gen. Passenger Agent, Intercolonial
Railway Montreal, P.Q.
Power, Hon. L. G., Speaker of the Senate Ottawa, Ont.
Pray, James Sturgis Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A.
Pantel, Joseph Somerset, Man.
Petrant, John Montreal, P.Q.
Phillips, L. M Courtright, Ont.
Playfair, A. W Windsor Mills, F.Q.
Pearson, B. F Halifax, N.S.
Perley, Geo. H., 193 Sparks St Ottawa, Ont.
Price, H. E Quebec, P.Q.
Price, Wm .•
Price, A. (» .' u
Quinn, J. G Cardston, Alta.
Robinson, Hiram . . Ottawa^ Ont.
Robertson, Henry CoUingwood, Ont.
deHoeenroll, Anthony S., M.L. A Wetaskiwin, Alta.
Rathbun, E. W Deseronto, Ont.
Ricardo, W. Granby, Coldstream Ranch Vernon, B.C.
Robinson Lumber Co., Ltd., The Fred Revelstoke, B.C.
Roche, John D., 666 City Hall Ave Montreal, P.Q.
Digitized by
Google
118 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION— Gmiinued.
Roes, Norman M., B.S. A., Dept. of Interior Ottawa, Ont.
Rutherford, Win., 85 Atwater Ave Montreal, P.Q.
Robertson, Jas t^lencoe, Ont.
Reilly, R. T Winnip^, Man.
Ring, John J Crystal City, Man.
Ring, Robert »
Rothnie, Jas Virden, Man.
Russell, A. L., D.L.S Port Arthur, Ont.
Rutherford, Andrew, 85 Atwater Ave Montreal, P.Q.
Rorke, Louis V Sudbury, Ont.
Rankin, C Mattawa, Ont.
Rat Portage Lumber Co. . . * Rat Portage, Ont.
R088.W.R Montreal, P.Q.
Reed, Hayter, Chateau Frontenac Quebec, P.Q.
Ross, J. Theo., care of Ross & Co n
Saunders, Wm., LL.D.. F.L.S., F.C.S., F.R.S.C. . .Ottawa, Ont.
Stewart, E., Supt. of Forestry Ottawa, Ont.
South worth, Thos., Director of Forestry Toronto, Ont.
Spring-Rice, (^erald Pense, Assa.
Spring- Rice, B Pense, Assa.
Stupart, R. F Toronto, Ont.
Scott, Miss Mary McKay, Department of Interior . .Ottawa, Ont.
Schenck, C. A., Ph.D BUtmore, N.C., U.S.A.
Stewart, S., Dept. of Indian Affairs Ottawa, Ont.
Sifton, Hon. C, K.C., M.P Ottawa, Ont.
Selby, Henry W Dinorwic, Ont.
Speight, T. B., Yonge St. Arcade Toronto, Ont.
Spicer, H. H., Mangr., Spicer Shingle Mill Co.,
Limited Vancouver, B.C.
Snowball, His Honour, J. B., Lieutenant (to vernor. Chatham, N.B.
Shaw, Geo. H , Asst. Genl. Freight Agrt. C.P.R. Coy Winnipeg, Man.
Schultsi, Frank Baldur, Man.
Stevenson, A. P Nelson, Man.
Stephenson, E. F., Crown Timber Agent.. Winnipeg, Man.
Saundere, B. J., D.L.S Regfina, Assa.
Stevenson, Dr Virden, Man.
Smith, J.P Crystal City, Man.
Sharp, R
Sydere, Arthur H., Legislative Assembly Toronto, Ont.
Smiley, Daniel Mohonk Lake, N. Y., U.a A.
Stafford, B. V Amprior, Ont.
Stocking, Chas. P Waubaushene, Ont.
Scott, Lt. -Col. B. A Roberval, P.Q.
Steele, E.C., O.L.S Sault, Ste. Marie, Ont.
Steed, Wm Cardston, Alta.
Stewart- Wade, Chas. H Edmonton Fort, N.W.T.
Stephens, Hon. (J. W., 845 Dorchester St Montreal, P.Q.
Simpson, Geo., 24 Russell Ave . . . Ottawa, Ont.
Schott, Peter Knittelsheim, Germany.
Scott, Luther Epsom, Ont.
Scott, Hugh Lethbridge, Alta.
Todd, F. G., Bell Telephone Bldg Montreal, P.Q.
Turner, Richard, Box 400 Quebec, P.Q.
Thomson, C. J '. Virden, Man.
Tweed, Geo Crystal City, Man.
Taylor, J. W Stirling, Alta.
Toumey, Prof. J. W., Yale Forest School New Haven, Conn., U.S.
Thompson, Wm Crystal City, Man.
Taylor, John E TaylorviUe, Alta.
Taylor, John Clearwater, Man.
Ussher, C. E. E., General Paiisenger Agt., C.P.R.
Company Montreal, P.Q.
Unwin, A. Harold, D. Oec. Publ., Forestry Branch,
Dept. Interior Ottawa, Ont.
Vroom, J St. Stephen, N.B.
Vallillee, J. E Buckingham, P.Q.
Van Bruys^el, Ferd Beaupr*^, Montn»erency Co., P.Q.
White, Aubrey, Deinity Commr. of Crown Land« . . .Toronto, Ont.
Westhead, A. C., Buffalo Lake Ranche Ijacombe, Alta.
Wilson, F. D Ft. Vermilion, Atha.
Wallace, Wm. S Shellmouth, Man.
Warren, Col. F. W., Nicola St . .Vancouver, B.C.
Wadsworth, V. B., London and Canadian Loan Co. .Toronto, Ont.
Wallace, Jas. N Hamilton, Ont.
Ward, Hon. J. K Westmoimt, P.Q.
Williamson & Crombie Kingsbury, P.Q.
Digitized by
Google
CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 119
MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION— ConcZttAjd.
Waldie, John Toronto, Ont.
Wheeler, Hector Calvary, Alta
Woodrow, W. H Boissevain, Man.
Warren, F. B Napinka, Man.
Wilson, S. Chivere, Dept. of Public Works Regina, Assa.
Wheeler, A. O., D.L.S., F.R.G.S Calgary, Alta.
Wood, AW Plevna, Ont.
Wilgre8s,G. S Huntsville, Out.
WilaoD, J. F Hawkesbury. Ont.
Whyte, R. B., 370 Wilbrod St Ottawa, Ont.
Wiwon, Wm Whitemouth, Man.
Wilcox, David Cardston, Alta.
Wooley, O. A Magrath, Alta.
Whitman, F. C Annapolis Royal, N.S.
Wood, Wm Cardston, Alta.
Wicksteed, H. K.. C.E . . .Cobourg, Ont.
Williamson, Wm., Room No. 8, 30 St. John St Montreal, P.Q.
Watson, Geo. F Maple Creek, Assa.
Walker, B. E., General Manager Bank of CommerceToronto, Ont.
Wilaon-Smith, R Montreal, P.Q.
Weir, Hon. Mr. Recorder, 94 Ste. Famille St ••
Weir, Douglas h m n
Wardrope, J. W., Little Cascapedia Quebec.
Young, Hon. Finlay M Killamey, Man.
^ g, T. S., * Canadian Lumberman ' Toronto, Ont.
LIFE MEMBERS.
Sir Henri Joly de Lotbini^re, K.C.M.G. ; A. H. MacKay, LLD., F.R.S.C. ;
Hiram Robinson ; W. F. Cochrane ; F. G. Todd ; F. D. Wilson ; Prof. J. W. Tourney ;
Frederick Law Olmsted, jr. ; D. James ; Lt.-Col. Jeffrey H. Burland ; J. B. Eraser ;
Jas. Morgan ; C. D. Morgan ; Hon. Robt. MacKay ; Geo. H. Perley ; A. Harold Unwin,
D. Oec. Publ. ; R. A. Gill ; B. E. Walker ; Alexander Laii-d.
The secretary will deem it a favour to be advised of any errors or omissions in this
list.
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11